


I'm Looking In Your Eyes (Ready To Be Hurt Again)

by IamR



Category: Legacies (TV 2018), The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Additional Characters, F/F, F/M, Freeform, Gemini Coven - Freeform, Henelope - Brotp, Mystic Falls, maybe some light smut, posie - Freeform, the merge - Freeform, the rest we'll see
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 13:49:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 64,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20601827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IamR/pseuds/IamR
Summary: Her laughter died down, thinking about Josie always made her kind of sad, but also happy at the same time. Josie was special, Josie was her reason to do, what she was doing. Even after Penelope breaking up with her four years ago, Josie still owned her heart, and Penelope doubted that there was anyone, who would be able to change that. As sad, as it was, she believed that she was destined to love Josie Saltzman and no one else.OrPenelope left for Belgium when she was 17 and is now living with Caroline, trying to find a loophole for the merge. When she is 21, Caroline brings her back to Mystic Falls for the twins 20th birthday.





	1. #1 - Vampires

**Author's Note:**

> Hi y'all!  
So, this is my first ff in general! I don't know if it's something or not, but I wanted to give it a try at least.  
Please keep in mind that english is not my first language, I'm sorry for any mistakes (spelling or grammar). :) 
> 
> Enjoy, and feel free to leave comments or constructive criticism! :)
> 
> Some characters in this fic are completely fictional and not from the Vampire Diaries universe. :)

**#1**

„The vampire can enter buildings only upon request, this does not apply if the house belongs to them or if the vampire was in there before. If the request is not spoken or clarified by gestures, the house remains locked up as if blocked by an invisible wall. It cannot be entered through windows or chimneys.

Ruins, abandoned or uninhabited houses without door and angling, however, are accessible without any request.

Accidents, like a collapsing roof while the vampire is standing on it cannot be avoided, and so the vampire gets access.

Sacred places, such as churches, the vampire will never be able to enter in its eternal life. A peculiarity that even the elders cannot explain.

In the light of the fire of a tavern, the vampire becomes conspicuous. While others sit in front of the warming flames and throw black patches on the ground and walls, it shines through the vampire. Its body does not seem to have a living form anymore. Vampires thus have no shadow and no mirror image. So, if the vampire wants to look at itself in a reflecting surface, it will only be able to see the shimmering water and everything below, but never itself”, the blonde girl read out loud.

Penelope was laying on her back, watching the pouring rain against her window, the moving branches of the tree in front of it.

“Bullshit”, she mumbled, while she stood up, “how old is this book? I guess the author’s never seen a real vampire.”

“Oh, and you have?”, the girl chuckled, raising her eyebrows.

Penelope rolled her eyes, that stupid rule not to tell humans about supernatural beings.

“It’s true. Vampires need to be invited into the house. But they indeed have a mirror image, and they also can enter churches and stuff. But”, she raised her index finger up in the air and turned around to the girl, “it’s their own fault, if people are dumb enough to invite a vampire into their house.”

The girl closed the book, still watching Penelope carefully with a smile on her face, “how do you know all this stuff?”

Penelope sat down on the bed again, she wasn’t supposed to tell the girl about the nature of real vampires, witches, werewolves and all the other species, which existed out there. So, she just went with the easiest explanation and answered a simple, “books.”

“Well, this book seems quite accurate, so, how do I know you are telling the truth?”, the girl asked with a sceptical look on her face.

“I guess, you just have to believe me”, Penelope smirked at her, shrugging her shoulders, while her right hand patted on the spot next to her.

The blonde gave her a shy smile, before she made her way across the room, straddling Penelope. She buried her hands in black, thick locks and started to kiss Penelopes jawline.

A slight moan escaped Penelopes lips, before her hands found their way down to the girl’s waist, slightly squeezing it.

“And besides, witches are way sexier than vampires”, Penelope mumbled in the girl’s ear, closing her eyes.

The girl smiled against her lips, giving her a passionate kiss, her hands slightly pulling her hair, because she figured that’s what would drive the raven-haired beauty beneath her crazy. And in fact, Penelope deepened the kiss, pushing her tongue rather roughly against the girl’s bottom lip.

But before anything further could happen, she heard the sound of a closing door.

“Not again”, she growled, while pushing the girl off her lap, “I think you have to go now”, she said without looking at the blonde, picking up her jacket and throwing it in her direction.

The questioning look on the girls face and her slow movements made Penelope roll her eyes, when she opened the door of her room for her. She moved her hand, showing the girl, that it was time for her to leave and that’s when the girls eyes landed on Caroline.

“Is that your girlfriend?”, she asked, her expression changing to an angry one.

Penelope followed her eyes, giving the girl a disgusted look, “ew, Caroline? God, no.”

The girl’s expression loosened up again, her pace slowed down, “ok, maybe you could give me a call then?”

Penelope was giving her a fake smile, “yeah, sure”, she mumbled, before the girl left her room and finally the apartment.

She released a deep sigh and walked into the living room, eying Caroline while leaning against the doorframe.

“So, you really think that witches are sexier than vampires, huh?”, a smirk plastered across the blonde’s face.

Penelope furrowed her brows, shaking her head slightly, before she asked, “do you always have to use your vampire hearing? I mean, like, _always_? What’s wrong with me having a little privacy?”

Caroline turned around, watching Penelope carefully, before she started laughing. It didn’t take Penelope too long to join her.

Caroline stopped laughing, giving the other girl a sincere look, “besides, what’s wrong with inviting vampires inside the house?”

Penelopes eyes widened, she hid her face behind her palms and complained, “god, Caroline! How much did you hear?”, which earned another laugh from the blonde woman in front of her.

When the laughter died down again, Caroline sat down on the couch, watching Penelope still hiding her face, “are you going to give the poor girl, what was her name again, a call?”, she teased her further.

Penelope lowered her hands, a few seconds passed, and her expression became a serious one, “I don’t know her name, I never do.”

Her answer was honest, like they always were, when she was talking to Caroline.

After all those years Caroline was like a mother to her, since her actual mother was very much out of the picture. But Caroline was also kind of her best friend. Far away from her actual friends, after she cut ties with all of them. She didn’t do it, because they were not important to her, but because she couldn’t afford to get distracted on her mission. To save the twins lives, to save Josies life. So, Caroline was basically the only person to talk to.

“Penelope”, Caroline started but stopped. She didn’t know, what to say.

“It’s just –”, Penelope took a deep breath, thinking about how to tell Caroline why she was behaving the way, she was, “if I’d know their names, it would become real, you know? I would feel like, I don’t know, like I was cheating.”

Caroline gave her a loving smile. This girl was too good for the self-imposed burdens, she carried on her shoulders. She was one of the strongest people Caroline knew, far stronger than most of the people her age.

And Caroline really appreciated her effort, her help, what she was willing to give, ready to do, and even her company, but sometimes she wished Penelope wouldn’t be where she was now. That she had stayed in Virginia, with her daughter, enjoying her life, being a teenager, without worrying about the lives of the twins. But she also knew, that this wasn’t who Penelope was. She was stubborn, selfish and to a certain degree even careless enough to break her own heart to save two girls, she actually owed nothing to.

“You broke up with her four years ago, Penelope”, she said in a sad voice, knowing that she still felt the same way about her daughter.

And as if Penelope could read her mind, she said, “that doesn’t change the way I am feeling about her. I still love her, you know.”

It always surprised Caroline how easy it seemed for the girl to talk about her feelings for Josie. Like it was second nature to her. Not only to talk about her feelings but also to just feel them. Simple, plain love for Josie Saltzman.

“So, I guess you won’t give her a call then?”, Caroline joked to loosen up the thick and heavy weighing atmosphere in the room.

A wide smile creeping up on her lips, Penelope playfully rolled her eyes, “hell, no. She thinks, that vampires don’t have a mirror image.”

A dismissive movement of her hand following her words, Penelope sat down next to Caroline.

“Sometimes I just miss them, you know”, Penelope sighed, a sad smile covering her face, “not only Josie, but MG and Hope, even Lizzie sometimes”, she pulled a face, looking at Caroline.

“Oh, Josie told me all about your bitchy banters”, Caroline chuckled. She started rubbing Penelopes back up and down, comforting her, not really sure, what else to do.

Penelope appreciated it, though. Caroline was gentle, at least in situations like this one. She gave the blondes knee a thankful squeeze, before she stood up, “I’m going to do some more research.”

Caroline watched her leave the room, not sure how to tell her, that they needed to go back to Mystic Falls within the next few weeks.


	2. #2 - Servants of Nature

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> First of all, thank you guys for the comments and the kudos! I really appreciate it! :) 
> 
> This is kind of a filler chapter, just to .. mh .. get to know Penelope a little, at least to get to know about what she's doing now. :D

**#2**

When she first started studying Occult Studies, she thought about it as part of her “mission”, that it would somehow help Caroline and her to find something to save the twins.

But after a short while she began to enjoy the university life and what came with it. It was a nice change to her work with Caroline, which would sometimes be exciting and adventurous, dangerous even, but most of the time only consisted of reading old books, searching for small hints, which then again led to more research and old books.

Studying Occult Studies also turned out to be quite helpful during their long research sessions. Whenever Caroline or Penelope came across something they wouldn’t understand, or never heard of before the first thing Caroline did, was to call Alaric Saltzman, the twins dad. But with progressing studies those calls became less and less.

Penelope acquired a broad knowledge about supernatural species, myths and legends, history of magic, and in combination with her knowledge from Salvatore and the Belgium witch only school and Carolines knowledge, those calls became rather rare. 

Usually, people would describe Penelope as conscientious, reliable, but with Caroline and her sometimes following a hint for days, or weeks, it was almost impossible to always keep up with all the lectures, seminars, and practical curses.

“Penelope Park attending a seminar, what a blessing that I'm allowed to experience this, while I am still alive”, her Professor sarcastically said, his eyes following the raven-haired witch entering the room.

She sat down on one of the free chairs close to the back row, fake smiling in his direction.

“You do know, that these meetings are obligatory?”, he asked, still looking at her with wide eyes.

Penelope rolled her eyes, “I’m here, aren’t I?”, she stated, still wearing her fake smile, a playfulness laying in her eyes.

While a few of her fellow students giggled about her remark, her professor only shook his head. He sighed and cleared his throat, “so, shall we continue? Miss Park, we are talking about magical creatures and their connection to nature.”

And Penelope really tried to pay attention to the ongoing discussion but some of her fellow students really didn’t know anything about supernatural beings. So, she took out one of her books and started reading about ancient curses, trying to find something, just anything, about a curse called the merge.

Her attention was brought back to the seminar, when a boy said, “I guess vampires are pretty cool”, he casually shrugged his shoulders, “they are strong and stuff. You can’t kill ‘em that easily.”

Penelope let out a disbelieving chuckle, shaking her head, before she re-read the sentence in front of her.

Penelope Park was a young, but powerful witch. When her magic first showed, she was only four years old. Her parents were quite surprised, how fast her magic and especially her understanding of it would improve at such a young age. Her coven was one of the oldest and strongest in the United States, its origins in Asia and therefore older than most covens in the country.

If there was one thing, Penelope loved about herself, it was being a witch. Growing up surrounded by other supernatural beings she never made a secret out of it. She was proud, eager to learn as many spells as possible. She even loved to learn about the stuff, her fellow witches would dismiss as boring, or unimportant, like basic knowledge about herbs and potions. She would even try to practice black magic, just to improve her proficiencies.

But Penelope could also be careless, arrogant, reckless, unreasonable. She wouldn’t listen to Caroline telling her that sometimes her spells and potions were useful, but sometimes they weren’t, sometimes they’d need Carolines vampire hearing, her vampire speed or her mind compulsion.

She would willingly bring herself in danger, just to prove her point, that witches were the better supernatural beings.

_She is young. She is naïve. She still has a lot to learn_, were Carolines excuses for Penelopes behaviour.

“Penelope, do you want to say anything to that?”, her professor asked. Besides Caroline, he was one of the first vampires Penelope had met in the area.

“Sure”, she cockily smiled, closing her book, “vampires are pretty cool. But they are not that strong, actually”, she mimicked the boy, casually shrugging her shoulders.

One thing she would never admit was, that she actually liked her professor. He was one of the oldest vampires living in Belgium, coming from an old European lineage, but he could be a little full of himself from time to time, especially when it came to his own kind. Like she was herself, when it came to her kind.

So, she pretty much enjoyed bantering with him during class, and he felt the same about her. Penelope was a challenge, one of the strongest witches he’d ever met. She was smart, cunning, a fast learner, he liked her sarcasm, her cockiness, but of course he would never admit that in front of her.

He gave her a challenging look, earning a sly smile in return.

“Don’t get me wrong here, vampires are cool and … stuff”, she repeated the boys statement, except her tone was a sarcastic one, “but witches are so much more powerful. It’s not only the fact, that witches can actually generate the magic, they also have a special bond with nature. Werewolves and vampires are limited by it, while the power of a witch only grows stronger due to this connection. They are the servants of nature after all.”

While some of her fellow students looked at her with sceptical expressions, others made approving sounds. Her professor pinched the bridge of his nose, obviously irritated by Penelopes explanation.

“What about dark magic, though?”, a female voice asked. Penelope immediately turned her head to the source of the voice, recognising her as the blonde girl, who, a few days ago, was sitting in her room at Carolines apartment.

“Well, like every kind of magic, dark magic has its price. But if its payed, nature will oblige”, Penelope said.

The girl glared at her, clearly angry about something, probably the fact, that Penelope never gave her that call. She turned her head, looking at the professor, “Professor De Vos, is it true, that vampires have a mirror image?”

Penelope shook her head, while her professor gave her a suspicious look, “well, since probably none of us has seen one, I can only assume, based on my knowledge from books, that they have one, yes. Why do you ask, Miss Maes?”

“It’s just that someone told me a few days ago, and I wasn’t sure if it’s true, since this person turned out to be a liar”, she again glared at Penelope, who only shrugged her shoulders in defence, and mouthed a small “sorry” to the girl.

Professor De Vos only shook his head, releasing an annoyed sigh, before he dismissed the class and waving Penelope over to him.

“Pen, you have to be more careful”, he said with a blaming voice, “I know that you enjoy those little banters, just like I do, but people get suspicious fast these days.”

“I’m sorry, Jules, it won’t happen again”, she apologised.

He sighed, “it’s okay, just keep it in mind”, he gave her a reassuring smile, “did you find anything new?”

Penelope shook her head, her gaze moving to her feet, “no. Caroline was following some witches from France, but she lost them, I guess we have to start all over. Again.”

His hand found its way to Penelopes shoulder, giving it a light squeeze, before he started picking up some books from his desk, “I really hope you can save those girls.”

With those words he left, leaving behind his favourite student in an empty lecture hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
Again, feel free to leave comments.  
And please keep in mind, that english is not my first language, I am trying my best :D Sorry, for any mistakes.


	3. #3 - I did my research

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter for today. :) The next one will be a little bit longer.
> 
> Thanks again for all the kudos and comments. :)
> 
> Enjoy your day and have a nice week everyone!

**#3**

“Penelope Park”, a girl walked up behind her, closing the distance.

“Who wants to know that?”, Penelope didn’t even bother to turn around and look at the girl.

She didn’t stop or slowed down her pace, but the girl stayed unimpressed. Catching up and walking next to Penelope, she said, “your knowledge is impressive. I’m Yves by the way.”

Penelope rolled her eyes, stopping her movement, when she realised that the girl would probably follow her all the way back home, “and I do care because?”

“Sassy. I like it”, the girl smirked, which earned an eyeroll from Penelope in return.

“Ok, straight to the point, I hoped that you could maybe teach me some spells”, the girl said, her voice a little nervous.

Penelope looked at her suspiciously, “and why would I do that?”, she narrowed her eyebrows, not even questioning how the girl knew about her being a witch.

“Because I saw you reading stuff about curses, and I guess, I can help you in return”, the girl simply said. Her expression was neutral, honesty laying in her eyes.

“I don’t need help”, Penelope said, turning on her heel, continuing her way back to Carolines apartment.

“Full of yourself much, huh?”

Penelope released an annoyed sigh, while she again stopped in her tracks. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath in and turned around again, “dude, I don’t even know you. So, what do you want?”

The girl chuckled, taking one step closer to Penelope, “I already told you, _dude_. I wanna help you, and I want you to teach me some spells. You might not know me, but I do know you”, as if to prove her statement she started pointing out some facts about the raven-haired girl, “Penelope Park, member of an Asian coven with a special bond to water, top student, even if she’s not attending obligatory seminars, living with Caroline Forbes, who is a vampire.”

Penelope rose her brow, shocked and impressed at the same time, by how much the girl knew about her, “you do realize, that this is absolutely creepy, right?”

The girl nodded, casually shrugging her shoulder.

“How do you know all that stuff about me?”, Penelopes voice sounded nervous.

How often did Caroline warn her about being not subtle enough about her own identity? The answer to that way easy, countless times.

Not only did the girl obviously know about her, but also about Caroline. Penelope gave her one more suspicious glance, feeling a slight panic rising in and radiating from her stomach.

The girl smugly smiled at her, something Penelope would always do to intimidate people, to make them feel insecure, but not now, not when she was internally freaking out, “I did my research”, the girl stated, lifting a brow challengingly.

“Okay, whatever”, Penelope said, turning around one more time, “you comin’?”, she asked, annoyance showing on her face, a short fake smile flickering over her lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Yves is a made up character, maybe she'll become important one day, I might have something in mind, but for now I guess Penelope could just use some company. :)
> 
> English is not my first language, sorry for any mistakes.


	4. #4 - Mystic Falls is in Virginia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new chapter! And a longer one this time. :)
> 
> I know that Caroline knows about the Merge because of the Parker storyline, and she obviously told Penelope about that stuff too, but I like the thought of old records about that kind of things, and some sort of .. "handbook" (?) about different types of witches. :D  
I also might have simplified the whole concept of the Merge and the Gemini Coven, but I guess most of you know how complex the whole thing is. :P
> 
> Enjoy and have a nice weekend. :)

**#4**

“Ah Pen, finally!”, Caroline greeted the girl, “oh, hi Yves.”

“Wait –”, Penelope gave her a questioning look, her eyes jumping back and forth between the blonde and the redhead, “you two know each other?”

Caroline didn’t stop the rummaging in her room, only waved a short, confused glance at Penelope, before she mumbled, “what do you mean? That’s Yves Dubois, you went to school with her, and she’s attending the same classes as you at Uni”, she shook her head disbelievingly, “also, her parents helped me with … something”, giving Penelope a you-know-what-I-mean-look.

“What the he –”, the raven-haired girl started, giving the other girl a scolding look. So, of course she knew all that stuff about her earlier. She knew Caroline, that’s probably why she knew about her being a vampire and about Penelopes coven. And her studying the same thing as Penelope, also explained why she knew about her not attending all her seminars, “why didn’t you say anything earlier? You fucking scared the shit out of me”.

Yves started laughing, Caroline was mumbling a short “language”, and Penelope was glaring at both of them, “whatever”, she mumbled and left for her room. 

Yves eyes were scanning the room. The first two things, she recognized were the vast amount of alphabetically sorted books and two photo frames on the windowsill. She moved across the room, lifted one of the frames. A much younger Penelope next to an auburn-haired girl, laughing about something. _She looks so carefree here, much different from her grumpy face now_, Yves not so subtly compared the photo with Penelope, who was rummaging in her bag.

“Who’s this?”, Yves asked, showing Penelope the photo frame in her hand.

A sad expression flickered across her face, almost unnoticeable, before her gaze fell back on her bag, “that’s Hope”, she said without further explanation.

“Was she your girlfriend?”, Yves asked absentmindedly, while putting the frame back to its place.

Penelope started laughing. Hope Mikaelson was many things. She once was Penelopes favourite frenemy, before they became actual friends, and finally best friends. There were kisses, hook ups, and sometimes they would even cuddle with each other, but Henelope, like their best friend MG would always call them, was never something serious. How could it be, when there was Josie Saltzman existing next to everyone else?

Her laughter died down, thinking about Josie always made her kind of sad, but also happy at the same time. Josie was special, Josie was her reason to do, what she was doing. Even after Penelope breaking up with her four years ago, Josie still owned her heart, and Penelope doubted that there was anyone, who would be able to change that. As sad, as it was, she believed that she was destined to love Josie Saltzman and no one else.

“No, she is my best friend”, Penelope said, her voice carrying a sad undertone, “or … was.”

“Was?”

“I haven’t seen her or talked to her in four years”, Penelope gave her a sad smile.

“Why?”

Penelope rolled her eyes, “nosy much?”, but Yves didn’t change the way she looked at her. She was curious about the raven-haired girl. Penelope Park was like a mystery, like a puzzle consisting of a billion pieces, and she didn’t know why, but she felt like she needed to solve it.

She gave her a surrendering smile, lying down her books, she had pulled out of her bag, “I’m sorry. It’s just, I don’t like talking about that stuff with … strangers.”

Yves understood, and decided to get to know Penelope Park, not only based on the stuff Caroline had told her, or thing she had picked up during their time at the witch only school. She listened to her, showed her, that she cared, that she was genuinely interested in the girl.

And Penelope did the same, desperately needing a friend, who was actually her age, not just looking like it, due to their vampirism.

Yves turned out to be not only funny, sarcastic and smart. She was kind, caring and a good listener. After only four weeks she knew about Penelopes family, her friends back in Mystic Falls, and some trivial things about her coven.

Like Penelope had learned a lot about Yves. That she was a witch, whose magic only recently showed for the first time, that her family was part of an old Belgian coven and she therefore always knew that one day her magic would show. That she wanted to learn about different covens all over the world, spells specific for those covens and not only the things from her family’s grimoires.

And in return Penelope told her almost everything about herself, why she liked yellow more than all the other colours, why certain books were her favourites, why she kept the two plants next to her window, why she never fell in love with Hope, even if she was one of the most beautiful people she had ever seen. But she never told her about why she broke up with Josie, the real reason why she left the Salvatore Boarding School, why she wanted to stay with Caroline, who was her ex-girlfriend’s mother, why she would always read old books about ancient curses and covens, which no longer existed. She never told her about the merge and how the twin’s lives were threatened by it.

Until the day she couldn’t avoid it anymore.

***

It was a day, as good or bad, as all the ones that came before it and the ones that would come after.

“What’s a merge?”, Yves asked, and Penelope froze. Her eyes widened in shock, while her breath hitched for a second.

“I don’t know what you are talking about”, Penelope tried to convince the redhead.

Yves looked at her with a questioning expression, her eyes narrowed, “P, I heard you say it multiple times last night. You looked and sounded scared, you were sweating, you called out Josies name and I couldn’t even manage to wake you up. Please, I’m just trying to help.”

“I know, I’m sorry. It’s just … it’s complicated”, she sighed, shaking her head, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Yves bit her cheek, not knowing what to say. Penelope was always a little distant when it came to fears or her feelings in general, but this time it was different. She was scared, her face was pale, her eyes still opened wide in shock and she looked so nervous. Her fingers were fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, her eyes wouldn’t meet Yves.

The ginger-haired girl was concerned about her friend, she was genuinely worried, not ready to let Penelope shut herself off again, “you can talk to me, P, I’m here for you.”

Yves friendship was genuine. It was pure. It was something Penelope had only felt once before. When she became friends with Hope Mikaelson. Whenever she looked into Yves blue eyes, she was reminded of Hopes ocean blues. It was making things difficult, since Penelope missed Hope to a degree were her heart would incessantly ache by just thinking about the auburn-haired girl. But at the same time, it made everything so much easier. She could trust Yves, she felt this deep connection, which was present after just a month of getting to know each other. She didn’t know why, but she felt that way whenever they were talking to each other. The feeling was just there and that was all, Penelope needed at that moment.

She sighed in defeat, “okay, I’ll tell you all about it. At least everything I know about it, which is not much.”

Slowly she walked across the room until she reached one of her bookshelves. It took her only a few seconds before she found the book she was looking for. The book was obviously very old, the binding looked worn out, brown leather which became dark and soft over the years. Yellow pages, some of them were almost completely torn out, loosely stuffed back into the book.

Penelopes hands delicately caressed the cover, like it was the most precious thing she owned. She pressed the book against her chest, taking a deep breath and sat down next to Yves.

“Caroline and I found this book a year ago. It’s a collection of records about ancient curses, covens, spells, so on and so forth” the green-eyed girl explained, not taking her eyes off of the book.

She carefully opened a certain page, her fingers caressing the pages like her life depended on them not to tear. Her eyes scanned the words written on them, something sad flickering in them, as if she had read these pages far too often already.

She bit her cheek, cleared her throat, and then she started reading out loud, “how a leader is determined is as different, as the covens themselves. Descent, elections, blood, magical duels, only to name some. There are covens, which stand out by a special connection to one of the elements, then there are covens, whose members have special abilities, clairvoyance for example. Specific agreements with nature have favoured all sorts of diversities among the covens.

The Gemini coven is one of the oldest covens of witches in the United States. Not only known for their cloaking spells and the ability to create prison worlds, but also for their unique means of selecting a leader.

Special for the Gemini coven are their twin births - connected to them is one of the cruellest rituals to ever exist.

The Merge, an ancient ritual, a magical duel by which the leader of the coven is chosen.

Twins, forced by nature to compete against each other at the age of twenty-two, in a silent, nonviolent combat. The twins must fuse their magic, before the stronger twin will absorb it. The weaker twin, who will be drained of their magic will die after the ritual is performed.

Members of the Gemini Coven are bound to their current leader.

If the twins refuse to fulfil their fate, both and additionally their entire coven will inevitably die. If one twin kills the other before the Merge begins, they and their entire coven will suffer the same fate.

The incantation ‘_Sanguinem desimilus! Sanguinem generis fiatus!‘ _will initiate the merge, and two halves will become a one. Irrevocable, inevitable.

A curse, probably as old as the coven itself, which binds the Gemini twins to their coven.”

Penelope closed the book and silence coated the two girls sitting on her bed.

She bit her lip, breathing in, before she released a long sigh.

“It’s a curse, still working on a long defunct coven”, she said.

Yves closed her eyes, letting the words sink in. She was smart, too smart sometimes, so she thought about the relevance of a curse and a coven, not related to Penelope in any way, “this is the twins coven, isn’t it? Carolines daughters are Geminis.”

Penelope didn’t need to answer, the sadness and the desperation in her eyes told Yves all she needed to know, “their last leader killed the entire coven, but still Lizzie and Josie are forced to merge when they turn 22”.

“There has to be something like a loophole”, Yves thought out loud.

“Well, there is, actually. Due to the fact, that Josie and Lizzie are siphoners”, but Penelope didn’t look satisfied.

Yves questioningly shook her head, her brows furrowed, “okay, first, what’s a siphoner and second what’s the loophole?”

The raven-haired witch licked her lips, her fingers again caressing the cover of the book, she was still holding in her hand. And again, she opened one of the pages, precisely, like she knew exactly which page she was looking for.

“The siphoner is a special type of witch, known to only occur within the Gemini blood line. Sometimes referred to as ‘abominations of nature’, siphoners are unable to generate their own magic. Nevertheless, the spihoner is able to siphon magic from other supernatural beings or objects, which contain magic”, she read out loud, “did you ever hear about the heretics?”

Yves shook her head no, curiosity written all over her face. Penelope moved across the room, neatly placing the book back at its place, “heretics are hybrids. When a siphoner is turned into a vampire, they won’t lose their chanting abilities. Siphoners need to siphon their magic from other magical objects or supernatural beings. While true witches would lose their witchcraft, when they’d get turned, siphoners would keep theirs. Heretics can siphon internally … from their own vampirism.”

She sighed deeply again, pinching the bridge of her nose, and before Yves could even ask the question Penelope knew would come, she asked, “but how do you decide which one of the twins has to give up everything they’ve ever dreamed about?”

“Is this why you’re here? In Belgium I mean”, she asked.

Penelope sat down next to her again, her eyes fixated on her fidgeting hands, “not only. My mom got a job, she asked me if I wanted to stay at Salvatore, but I couldn’t. Josie needed to learn how to become her own person, I’m very protective, you know?”, Penelope waved her a short smirk, “I knew Caroline was somewhere in Europe, looking for a loophole for years, so I thought about helping her, and I did.”

“How did you know where to find her? And I bet she wasn’t amused, was she?”, Yves smiled at her friend, who seemed to loosen up a little bit.

Penelope laughed, scrunching her nose, like she always did, when her laughter was genuine, “no, she wasn’t. She didn’t even know me, only a few things Josie had told her, but I convinced her that I could help, and now I am living with her, kind of. And finding her wasn’t that hard, I spelled some pens back at Salvatore and a log recorded all the things written down with them. One day Alaric Saltzman, the twin’s dad, wrote something about Caroline and where she lived in his diary”, she again smirked, giving the other girl a wink.

“Nice, Park. I knew you had it in you”, Yves reciprocate her smirk.

Carolines cooking wasn’t always the best, but it served the purpose. She was more of a baker, Penelope always thought, but still she’d always tell her, that her cooking was almost as good as her mothers.

Caroline knew she was lying. In the beginning, when Penelope basically moved in, Caroline would always hear her heartrate increase, when she was lying. But after all those years it was like second nature for Caroline to ask Penelope, if she liked her food, knowing that she actually didn’t, and for Penelope to simply nod without realising, that she was still lying.

“How’s the food?”, Caroline asked without even looking at the two girls. While Yves shrugged her shoulders, nodding her head from side to side and giving Caroline a simple “okay”, Penelope mumbled “tasty”, like she always did. Yves’ gaze moved between the blonde and the raven-haired girl, both fixated on their plates, picking the food, mulling over different things.

“I need to talk to you about something, Pen”, Caroline broke the settling silence, “and I don’t know, if you gonna like it”, she carefully added.

Penelopes eyes met hers, worry laying in them, “shoot.”

Caroline put her fork down, obviously nervous, she started fidgeting with her napkin, “well –“, she started but stopped again, taking in a deep breath.

Penelope followed suit, putting down her fork. She gave Caroline a few seconds, before she said, “Caroline, just tell me”, her expression a mixture of curiosity and concern.

“We need to go back to Mystic Falls”, she almost whispered, closing her eyes, not able to look at Penelope and her reaction following to her own words.

Penelopes expression didn’t change for the first few seconds, Caroline thought that maybe her voice wasn’t loud enough, until Penelope simply asked, “why?”

“The twin’s birthday is coming up and I haven’t seen them in two years”, Caroline explained the obvious, earning an almost rude sounding, “I know, Caroline. But why do I have to go?”

“One of the witches I was following the past few months told me about ‘something’ in New Orleans, so we have to go there”, Carlines voice was soft, like she was trying to calm Penelope down.

“Mystic Falls is in Virginia –“

“I know, Pen. But I want to see my daughters, I guess you figured that much, so please, it would only be a few days”, the blonde tried, her voice still soft but decisive.

Penelope sighed, her eyes landing back on her food, “I don’t know, if I’m ready”, her voice barely a whisper.

The vampire gave her a soft smile. Penelope was one of the strongest people she knew, but when it came to her daughter, she would simply become a mess.

Yves observed the entire exchange with curious eyes. Penelope still looked worried, her brows furrowed, chewing on her cheek, while Caroline looked at her with an almost motherly expression on her face, well aware of the fact, that Penelope did not only break Josies heart four years ago, but also her own.

“Would you mind me joining you on your trip?”, Yves asked, breaking the silence.

Penelope shot her a confused look and Caroline followed suit, “I don’t know if –“, she began, but Penelope interrupted her, “please Caroline. I really could use an ally. And she knows about the merge anyway.”

Carolines eyes jumped between the two girls, both grinning at her. She sighed, slightly shaking her head.

“Plus, she’s kinda smart”, Penelope winked at Yves, sticking her tongue out teasingly.

Caroline thought about it for a second, her eyes moving to the ceiling, before she made eye contact with green orbs again. Penelope and Yves became friends fast, she trusted her, and Caroline trusted Penelope. The young witch was good at reading people, figuring them out. The fact, that she’d told her about the merge only proved how much she trusted Yves.

“Ok then”, she sighed in defeat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and don't hesitate to leave a comment. :)
> 
> Sorry for any mistakes, Uni is killing me these days!


	5. #5 - Bourbon, old books, and wooden floors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> A new day, a new chapter! Enjoy and feel free to comment. :-)

**#5**

To say Penelope was nervous, when they left Carolines apartment, was an understatement. She hadn’t seen Josie or her friends in four years. She didn’t know how they would react to her return, how or if they would welcome her. _Hope’s probably angry_, she thought, a shaking finger slightly stroking her bottom lip.

“It’ll be okay”, Caroline said, her voice soft, her hand giving Penelopes knee a reassuring squeeze.

It was almost scary, how well Caroline knew her, how easy it was for her to read her sometimes, to always know exactly what to say to make her feel better.

Penelope usually kept her feelings to herself, not willing to let anybody in, but with Caroline it was different. After she had left Hope, she felt lonelier than ever before, but Caroline showed her that she didn’t need to feel this way. She would always listen to her, even if Penelope didn’t say anything, she would try to make her feel better, she would give her a feeling of safety, of acceptance – something her own mother never really did, never really was able to do.

Penelope shot her a short smile, showing her that she was going to be okay, that she was just nervous, and Caroline understood. Josie was Penelopes once in a lifetime, the love of her life, even at her young age it was simple as that, crystal clear for anybody who’d hear Penelope talk about the brunette.

The day was long, the flight exhausting and when they finally reached the Salvatore Boarding School Penelope wanted nothing more but to sleep.

“So, this is the famous Salvatore”, Yves said, not really impressed by the look of it, “it looks … nice.”

Penelope chuckled, sure, Salvatore was nice and not comparable with the usual schools in the US, but it was nothing compared to their Belgian witch only school.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”, Caroline gave her a scolding look and Penelope started laughing.

A blush creeped up Yves cheeks, giving Caroline an apologetic smile, immediately remembering that Caroline and the twin’s dad were the actual founders of the school.

Before any of the three could say anything else, Alaric Saltzman was standing in front of them. He pulled Caroline in a tight hug, sighing in relieve to finally be able to hold her again. A few minutes passed, before he eventually let go of her again, his hands still attached to her arms, a bright smile on his lips. He turned his gaze towards Penelope, “Penelope Park”, he simply said. Something meaningful laying in his gaze, something only Penelope would understand. Gratitude, appreciation, hope, but also something more dark. Sadness, and maybe even guilt, that Penelope was carrying a burden, she was not supposed to take care of.

He hadn’t seen her in four years, the last time he saw her, Penelope was escorting his daughter down the stairs of the Salvatore main building, trying to convince her to win the Miss Mystic Falls pageant. The day burned into Penelopes brain, like it was yesterday, was her last day at the school, her last day with Josie, her last day in Mystic Falls.

He then smiled at her, knowing how important she had become for the Saltzman family, probably without realizing it, without his daughters knowing it. She smiled back at him, uncomfortably fidgeting with her hands, not knowing what to do, how to behave, before Alaric opened his arms, embracing her in a hug.

***

Penelope was still nervous. Being back at Salvatore meant dealing with her past, more than ever, but being back also felt somehow good. This was her home, still, after all those years. At Salvatore she learned what it meant to be a witch, how to properly use her magic, she met her best friends. Josie.

Alarics office looked exactly the same, even after four years nothing had changed. It still smelled like Bourbon, old books and the typical wooden smell of Salvatore.

She let her eyes roam around the room, taking in all the different but familiar impressions, when suddenly the door flew open.

“Mom, finally”, Lizzie Saltzman stormed into the room, crashing into Caroline, wrapping her arms around her mother. Caroline immediately did the same, hugging her daughter tightly, not ready to let her go anytime soon. Penelope watched Caroline, how a weight was falling off her shoulders the moment she realized that Lizzie was real, that she was actually holding her daughter.

The green-eyed witch gave her a smile, knowing how much she’d missed her daughters._ Two years can be a long time, even for a vampire, when you miss someone that much_, she thought.

When Lizzie finally let go of her mother, she turned around, seeing Penelope standing in the middle of her father’s office, “Satan”, she simply said. Her expression indicating shock and confusion.

Before Penelope could respond, two girls walked into the office. One brunette, one with auburn-hair. Eyes fixated on each other, “you know, there’s only one person on this planet, Lizzie calls that”, the brunette said.

Ocean blue eyes met green ones, “Penelope”, she whispered.

Josie, still looking at Hope answered with a short “exactly”, before she turned her gaze, looking directly at Penelope, “oh”, she breathed out.

For a few seconds the time seemed to stand still. Penelopes smile was shy, her voice was shaking, when she breathed out a short, “hi Jojo.”

Caroline, Alaric and Lizzie were watching carefully, not sure how Josie would react. At first both, Hope and Josie, didn’t move, like Penelope wasn’t real, like she would disappear the moment they’d dare to move a muscle. But Penelope was real, she was standing in Alarics office, smiling softly at her best friend and the love of her life, nervously shaking hands fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

While Hope was moving closer to her, lifting her hand, touching Penelopes cheek, making sure she was real, Josie turned around, leaving the office, wordlessly, without looking back.

“I’ll go after her”, Caroline said, giving the girl a reassuring smile, slightly touching her arm.

***

Josie was sitting in the garden, like she always did, when she needed to think.

When Alaric told the twins that their mom was coming home for their birthday, she was more than happy. She was looking forward to that day, to finally be able to hug Caroline again, to see her, to hear her actual voice, not only the over-the-phone-voice. When she heard Lizzie say “Satan”, her thoughts immediately went to her ex, but when she saw her, it was like the world stopped spinning.

Penelope Park, standing right in front of her, within reach, beautiful as ever. Her raven hair framed her face still perfectly, her beautiful eyes, even greener, than she remembered, how she had called her “Jojo”, it was all too much.

The fact, that her mother was standing only a few feet away from Penelope went almost unnoticed, when Josie turned around, running away from her dad’s office.

Caroline approached her carefully, not wanting to startle the girl, “may I sit?”, she asked.

“Mom”, barely a whisper, “of course, I am sorry”, she said, looking at the grass next to her feet.

Caroline sat down next to her, “it’s okay, baby”, she said in her softest voice.

Josie felt Caroline wrapping her arm around her, she immediately leaned into the embrace, leaning her head on her mother’s shoulder, “I’ve missed you”, she said, her voice shaking.

Caroline pulled her in even closer, “I’ve missed you too”, she said, placing a soft kiss on top of her head.

Silence settled around them. While Caroline was enjoying the physical contact with her daughter, she had missed for two years, Josie was trying to put the puzzle pieces together. _Why was Penelope Park standing in her dad’s office? Did she arrive with her mother? Was it a coincidence that they were both standing in the room, arriving at the same day? And if not, why didn’t her mother warn her about Penelope coming back with her?_

“Why is she here?”, Josie asked after what felt like a thousand years of silence, her voice still shaking.

Caroline sighed, giving herself a few seconds to think about a good enough response, “you should talk to her about that”, she simply said, not wanting to tell her daughter something Penelope didn’t want Josie to know yet.

Josie deserved to know the truth, about Penelope risking her life on an almost daily basis for the last couple of years, about Penelope leaving her, to make sure to find a loophole, to safe her from that ancient curse, threatening her and Lizzies lives. About how Penelope broke her own heart in order to give Josie a possibility to let her heart heal, to find love, even if it was not Penelope herself, she’d find it with. But it was not Carolines place to tell her daughter about all of it.

Penelope was not only her friend, but kind of like a daughter after all those years. Penelope trusted her, like Caroline trusted Penelope, she had let Caroline in all those years ago and the vampire appreciated that. She was not going to decide when it was time for Josie to hear about the truth.

“So, you guys did come here together?”, Josie asked.

“Yes”, Caroline breathed out.

The brunette stayed quiet, not sure what to think about her mother’s response. What was her mother’s deal with Penelope? Why would she travel with her? And why the heck would she bring her to the twin’s birthday?

“Why?”, was all Josie could think about.

Caroline loosened the grip on her daughter’s shoulder, releasing her out of her embrace, “she’s helping me with something”, she answered, not looking at her daughter’s face.

Josies hand was carefully caressing the grass in front of her, her eyes fixated on her mother, “with what?”

Caroline didn’t need to answer, her facial expression already told Josie what she needed to know. The merge. Lizzies and her legacy. On her last day, when Penelope gave her the log of everything written down with her spelled pens, she had told her to read her dad’s diary entries about something called the merge. And Josie did. She had read all the entries, tried to find more information about it at the school’s library, she had asked her dad, but still, she knew almost nothing about it.

But Penelope did. She had to. That’s what Josie thought. That’s why she had left her. That’s why she had told her, that one day Josie would understand why Penelope did everything that she did. And Josie had tried to understand, she still was trying, but the day still hadn’t come yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some small things might differ from the way they happened on Legacies. :-)
> 
> And again, thank you for all the comments and kudos! I really appreciate it!


	6. #6 - Blue and Green

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi y'all!  
Some Henelope, there will be more in the next chapter probably.   
Thanks for reading, if you haven't stopped yet. :D
> 
> Have a nice weekend everyone!

**#6**

Hopes hand on her cheek was one of the softest things Penelope had ever felt. She closed her eyes, slightly bit her bottom lip, a soft sigh escaping her lips. Finally. Finally, she felt home again. But when she opened her eyes again a sharp pain was all she could feel, radiating from her cheek. She could literally feel the deep red imprint of Hopes hand forming on it, when her own hand reached for the source of pain. Lips slightly parted, not fully processed what just had happened.

Hope looked angry, furious, like the only thing missing was the steam coming from her ears. Her eyes were angrier, than Penelope had ever seen them.

“I guess, I deserved that”, Penelope said, still holding her own cheek. Her eyes never leaving blue ones, which were intensely staring back at her. At first no one dared to move. Hope was still looking at her with narrowed eyes. The tension between the two girls was almost unbearable, when Hope finally pulled Penelope in for a tight hug, wrapping her arms around the girl’s waist. She burrowed her face in black locks, breathing in Penelopes scent of vanilla, jasmine and sandalwood.

It took the green-eyed witch only the split of a second to reciprocate the embrace. Wrapping her arms around Hopes neck, pulling her impossibly close. This was it. This was one of the things she had missed the most. Hopes smell, her touch, how soft her skin was, how it felt hugging her, letting go of all the bad things around her, feeling safe, home, like Hope was somehow her safe haven. She could feel how the tension of the last years left her body, how it relaxed only seconds after Hopes skin made contact with her own.

Caroline watched the raven-haired girl completely letting loose of all the stuff that happened the last few months, even years. She couldn’t suppress the smile, which crept up her lips, while she entered Alarics office again.

“I’ve missed you, Mikaelson”, Penelope whispered into the other girl’s ear, not ready to let go of her.

But Hope slightly pushed her away, her hands resting on Penelopes hips, while her face went back to its furious expression, “did you though?”, she groaned.

“Hope –“, Penelope started. But the other girl interrupted her, “no, Pen. You left, without telling me, without giving me the opportunity to stop you. You changed your number, you never called or texted or at least gave me a sign, that you were still alive!”

She slightly pushed Penelope, breaking the contact, Penelope had craved for far too long.

“I know”, Penelope whispered. Never losing eye contact. She had missed the blue of Hopes eyes too much, to not look at them, “I know, and I am sorry.”

“I don’t know, if that’s enough”, Hope sighed, lowering her gaze to her own feet.

Penelopes eyes were still fixated on Hopes face. She saw sadness, pain, but the worst was the disappointment displayed all over her features. She took a step closer to the other girl, carefully taking Hopes hand in her own, “Hope, please.”

But before Hope could respond, the sound of someone clearing their throat pulled them back into Alaric Saltzmans office.

“Oh, get a room, you two”, Lizzie dismissively waved her hand, rolling her eyes, before she glared at Penelope, “what do you even doing here anyway?”

Hope pulled her hand away, crossing her arms in front her chest. Penelope looked at her one last time, before she pulled her attention to Lizzie, who was still glaring at her, “I’m here because I missed you, Lizzie”, she said, smirking at the blonde girl.

“Sure”, she answered sarcastically, “did you ran out of immortal souls to collect at your new school, Satan?”

Penelope slowly walked towards the other girl, invading her personal space without physically touching her. Lizzie tried to take a few steps back, bringing some distance between her and Penelopes body, but her father’s desk was preventing her from bringing more space between them.

Penelope was as close as possible, without touching Lizzie, before she whispered, “your name is still on top of my list, Liz”, before she winked. If she didn’t know it any better, Lizzie would have referred to it as a seductive gesture. A slight blush made its way up Lizzies cheeks, which earned a smug smile from Penelope in return, before she turned around, giving her space again.

Lizzie let out a breath, she didn’t know she was holding, “whatever”, she huffed.

“Okay, girls. That’s enough”, Caroline said, hiding a chuckle behind her hand, “Penelope and I came here together”, she explained.

Lizzies eyes went wide, when she realized what her mother just said. Shock, confusion, incomprehension written all over her face, “excuse me?”, one eyebrow arched.

Penelope couldn’t help it, but chuckle about Lizzies reaction. Caroline gave her a scolding look, before she awkwardly looked back at her daughter. Lizzie opened her mouth and immediately closed it again, as if she tried to say something but couldn’t find the right words to properly express her thought. Her eyes jumping between her mother and Alaric, who obviously knew about this, judging by his uncomfortable smile directed at his daughter.

“Why the hell would you come here together? Did you randomly meet her at the airport or something?”, Lizzie disbelievingly asked, still one eyebrow raised.

“Actually,”, Caroline began, sending a helpless gaze in Penelopes direction, who was still smiling in amusement about the whole situation.

“We’re just passing through, actually”, Penelope said, releasing Caroline from her awkward silence.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”, Hope asked.

Lizzie narrowed her eyes again, a suspicious look on her face, while her eyes now jumped between her mother and the raven-haired girl, “yes, what’s that supposed to mean? And I still don’t understand what you’re doing here with the devil herself.”

Before Caroline could say something, Josie entered the room, her face still pale and her eyes carefully observing Penelope, “I found your girlfriend”, she bluntly said.

All eyes were on her now, but she only paid attention to green eyes staring at her.

Penelope Park, her first love, the girl who made her feel special, who saw her, when nobody else did, before she broke her heart out of the blue, and left her with nothing more than her spy book, a handwritten note, and some confusing words about an ancient curse, which would either kill Lizzie or her.

Yves entered the room, her eyes roaming the office, taking in every little detail. Penelope looked at her, of course Josie would think that Yves was her girlfriend, “she’s not my gi –“, she started.

“Wow, P., this place is huge!”, Yves interrupted her, still gazing around the room.

Penelope rolled her eyes, still feeling Josies eyes burning holes into her skin, “Jo, she’s not my –“, she tried again, not even sure why.

“Okay, I take everything back. This place is actually really nice, but our school is still fancier, though”, Yves again interrupted her. Penelope rolled her eyes in annoyance, breathing in deeply to calm herself, but before she could start a third time Josie already had left the room again.

Penelope quickly exited the office, trying to follow the brunette, but Josie was faster. Josie knew this place a little better, all the shortcuts and hiding spots, so she stopped in the middle of the hallway, sighing deeply, shaking her head in defeat.

Yves suddenly appeared next to her, an amused smile plastered across her face, “you okay, P.?”

Penelope turned around, hitting the other girl’s shoulder, “what’s wrong with you, Yves?”

“Oh, come on, P. There’s nothing wrong with making the ex a little jealous. You still want her, don’t you?”, the redhead smirked, wiggling her brows.

“You’re an idiot”, Penelope sighed, slightly shaking her head.

Sure, she still wanted Josie. Josie was the love of her life, her once in a lifetime, the reason why she did, what she did, but that didn’t mean Josie still felt the same way about her.

Penelope broke her heart four years ago, without a proper reason, at least that’s what Josie thought. And when her mother got that job in Belgium, she had left her, but not before she told her, that she loved her, pulling the rug out from under her feet. Again.

“Okay, let’s go somewhere. Preferably a place, where they serve alcohol”, she linked her arm with Penelopes, pulling her away from Alaric Saltzmans office.

***

“Mystic Grill”, Yves read out loud, “sounds … fancy”, a sarcastic undertone in her voice. Penelope rolled her eyes yet another time, pushing the other girl through the door inside the building.

“Wow, nothing has changed”, Penelope whispered, letting her eyes roam around the room. It still looked like four years ago. Her eyes came to a stop, Yves followed her gaze, “you wanna sit there?”, pointing to a table Penelope was looking at.

“Sure”, Penelope answered, not taking her eyes off the table.

When they sat down, her fingers slightly brushed over the wooden tabletop, tracing two letters, which were carved into the wood.

“J plus P. Is that Josie and you?”, the red-haired girl asked, her eyes following the delicate movement of Penelopes fingers.

A soft smile covering her lips, Penelope nodded. 

“What can I get two beautiful ladies?”, a male voice interrupted their silent exchange. A boy, dark skin, an afro covering his head, a too wide grin showing white teeth. He was not directly looking at them, his eyes glued to his notepad.

Penelope smirked, “how about my favourite whiskey?”, she asked, still smirking at the boy.

He slowly looked up from his notebook, his eyes meeting hers, his grin getting even wider than it should physically be possible, “so, the rumours are true, Penelope Park is back in town.” 

Penelope wordlessly raised, for a second she only stood in front of MG, her eyes carefully observing him from head to toe. Thanks to being caught in the body of a 16-year-old, he looked almost the same as four years ago, his beard was different though. She softly smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, while his arms immediately found their way around her middle.

“It’s good to see you, dude”, she mumbled against his shoulder.

She could feel him chuckling, tightening his arms around her, “you too, Peez, I’ve missed you.”

With MG it has always been easy. At their first day at Salvatore they had simply clicked. He was funny, but not exaggerated. His humour was light, fresh, like Penelopes. They became friends real fast, he made her laugh, she made him laugh, it was just easy between them. He would tell her about his crush on Lizzie, she would pine over Josie. Their love for the Saltzman twins connected them in a way. He was easy to talk to. He would listen to her, like she would to him.

One hour later Yves understood, what Penelope liked so much about the boy. He was one of a kind, smart, nerdy, funny, kind. He would make Penelope laugh, even after all those years.

“Did Hope punch you in the face?”, MG asked, still laughing about a joke he told the girls before.

Penelopes hand immediately reached out to her cheek, “she did”, she sighed.

MG still laughed, “she missed you, Peez. What did you expect?”

Penelope smiled, thinking about her best friend, “this was the best welcome I could’ve imagined, to be honest”.

After their laughter died down, MGs expression changed to a serious one. His gaze was almost examining, roaming around her face, like he was trying to figure something out.

“You wanna know why I’m back”, she took the words out of his mind.

He didn’t respond. Yves quietly took a sip of her drink, watching Penelope sucking in her lower lip, narrowing her eyes, looking deeply into the boy’s eyes.

“I’m here for the twin’s birthday”, she truthfully said.

He continued looking at her, it was silent. Only some quiet background noises were surrounding them. People laughing, talking, mingling.

Strangers, just enjoying their day. Some of them were looking at the three, more specifically at the raven-haired girl, like she was some kind of celebrity. Yves was looking around, observing their faces.

When Penelope Park first attended the Belgian witch only school, she didn’t show any interest in making friends for life. She didn’t show any interest in anyone, for that matter. But it didn’t take very long for some girls and boys to start following her around, wherever she was going. They would call themselves Penelopes posse, while she wouldn’t even notice half of them.

There was power radiating from Penelope, she was beautiful, mysterious, sassy, cocky, always wearing that damn good-looking smirk on her lips. So, Yves understood why people would start drooling over her, why people wanted to get close to her, even if it was only as friends.

Looking around at the Grill, she knew that it wasn’t any different at the Salvatore Boarding School. Those people once were Penelope Parks fan club, her followers, her minions, or her posse, if you like.

“You never called anyone in four years, Peez, or texted. Don’t get me wrong, but why are you back now? And why for the twin’s birthday?”, MGs voice pulled Yves back to their conversation.

The green-eyed witch sighed, her finger delicately brushing over the rim of her glass, her eyes locked on the table, two letters carved into the wood, “because Caroline made me”, she whispered.

The boy rose a brow, a surprised expression covering his features, “Caroline, like in Caroline Forbes? Like in the twin’s mom?”, he asked.

“Mh-hm”, Penelope nodded, taking a sip of her whiskey. She never liked lying, but sometimes it was inevitable, sometimes it was the only way to make sure not to hurt anyone’s feelings. But with MG she never had to. Their friendship was based on honesty, on trust, on the simple fact, that they always could tell each other anything.

Still a questioning look on his face, he slowly bit his cheek, “why? What’s going on between you and their mom?”

“I lived with her the last four years, MG”, she said without further explanation, resulting in an even more confused looking boy in front of her.

“Well, okay”, he started, “I never would have guessed that you and Caroline –“, he couldn’t finish his sentence.

“God, no! MG! Why does everybody think that Caroline and I are together?”, an awkward chuckle escaping her lips, “she’s old! And the twin’s mom, geez!”

MG looked relieved when he started chuckling as well, “okay, but why are you living with her then?”

“I’m helping her with something”, she took another sip.

MG noticed her change of mood, how her eyes wouldn’t meet his, how she clenched her teeth. To say that he was curious about Caroline and her was an understatement, but he also knew when Penelope wasn’t ready to talk about something, so he stopped asking. Knowing that she would talk to him eventually, when she was ready for it.

“Okay, MG, tell me why all those people are not-so-subtle looking in our direction”, Yves tried to change the subject, a slight smile on her face.

“That’s the effect Penelope Park has on people”, a female voice, coming from behind her, explained. Yves turned around, her lips connected to her glass.

_Auburn hair, ocean blue eyes, beautiful, this must be Hope Mikaelson_, Yves thought_. _

The girl had her eyes fixated on Penelope, who shook her head, a smirk covering her lips.

“Those people were following her around everywhere in school, then she left, now she’s back. News travel fast in small towns”, Hope continued, “may I sit?”

Yves and MG looked at Penelope. She nodded, carefully pushed the chair opposite of her off the table.

“It’s true”, Yves said. Three pairs of eyes looking at her confused, “even the straight girls at our school were falling for Penelope.”

“Stop it”, Penelope said, an uncomfortable smile on her lips, “that’s Yves by the way. Hope, Yves. Yves, Ho –“, she started to introduce the two girls.

“Hope Mikaelson, I know”, Yves interrupted her, a kind smile appearing on her face. Who wouldn’t know about the only existing tribrid in the entire world?

“She’s right, though”, Hope said, while she shook Yves hand, “people just fall for you. It’s –”, she sighed, closed her eyes, “easy.”

MG nodded approvingly.

“Okay, I am beautiful”, Penelope said, playfully rolling her eyes, “we get it, but can we stop now? Please?”

After a second of silence, the group started laughing.

It was the first time, since she arrived in Mystic Falls, that Penelope didn’t feel a constant cloud of worries hanging over her. Like the few days actually could turn out to be good, to be funny, to be like the old days. When she was living here, when she was happy here.


	7. #7 - Roses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
There's Henelope, flowers and a Posie flashback! Whoop whoop! I hope you guys like it! :-)
> 
> Oh, and everyone who's able to watch tonight, have fun!

**#7**

About an hour after Hope joined the group, MG and Yves were off the table, standing in the corner across the room, throwing darts at the wall, laughing in amusement by each others failure to hit the dartboard. And it didn’t take long for Penelope to forget about the two and to only concentrate on the girl in front of her. 

“Okay, so you didn’t call her and then she tried to make you look bad in front of your professor?”, Hopes laugh was one of the most beautiful things Penelope had ever heard. Right in that moment she realised how much she had missed it. How much she had missed her. When her own laugh fell silent, she gave the girl opposite of her a soft smile.

“What?”, Hope’s smile was shy.

“It’s just –“, Penelope bit her bottom lip, taking a sip from her glass, her eyes not meeting Hopes, “I’ve missed this. Us.”

“Me too”, Hope whispered, her hand finding her way on top of Penelope’s, who then finally connected their eyes.

Talking to Hope was not only refreshing and something she had missed, it felt more like a necessity. Like Penelope needed to talk to her, to see her, to be close to her again. After only one hour, Penelope was asking herself, how she had been able to avoid her for the last four years, how naïve and blind she had been to cut off someone who could make her happy with only their presence in the same room.

Cutting ties with Salvatore, her posse and most of the people she had met at this place was easy, almost too easy, but Hope was different, always had been. She was like pure gold, like a piece of Penelope’s heart, which she needed, to be her full self, to be able to feel joy, to be happy.

Talking to Hope, feeling her soft skin, hearing her laugh. It was like she felt her heart finally beginning to heal, like a pain, she didn’t even notice the last few years, finally came to an end.

***

It was past midnight, when the girl arrived back at the Salvatore Boarding School. Penelope let herself fall on one of the beds, her arms and legs stretched out, her eyes directed towards the ceiling.

Yves rummaged around in her suitcase, looking for something to wear for the night, “your friends are really nice”, she said.

Penelope took a deep breath in, “I know”, she mumbled.

“It must have been hard”, Yves stopped her movement, slowly turning her head around, looking at the raven-haired girl, who was still laying on her back, looking at the ceiling, “leaving them, I mean.”

Penelope knew that she’d have to talk about it eventually, “it was”, she said, signalling Yves that she was not in the mood to do it now.

Yves was smart, and besides her sarcastic nature, she was empathetic and understanding. She sighed in defeat.

After she continued her rummaging, her voice cut the silence once again, “can I ask you something?”

Penelope sat up, groaning, afraid that the other girl didn’t take the hint, that she wanted to continue talking about her leaving her friends behind, “sure”, she groaned again.

“What was the reason again, why you never fell in love with Hope? Because from what I saw today, you guys totally could be an item”, she didn’t need to turn around for Penelope to know that the redhead was grinning from one ear to the other.

Penelope couldn’t stop the smile forming on her lips. Hope Mikaelson was special, she was beautiful, and her friendship was the purest thing Penelope had ever experienced. Hope’s love was simple, it was genuine, it was unconditional and always worth fighting for. If it was for her to choose, Hope would be it, “believe me, I would have fallen for her a long time ago, but –“

“There is Josie Saltzman”, Yves finished her sentence, pushing up her bottom lip, an almost pitiful look on her face.

Penelope gave her a sad smile in return.

“Okay, I get it. She’s your true love and everything, but right now I am team Hope all the way”, Yves said to lighten up the mood, making a fist and bumping it in the air.

“Of course, you are”, Penelope mumbled too quiet for Yves to hear, narrowing her eyes for the split of a second, before she was falling back on the bed again. Her eyes moving back to observe the ceiling. Hope was charming, her mesmerizing effect on people was out of question, and it only took her half a day to make an impression on Yves. So, of course she was ‘team Hope all the way’. _Honestly, who wouldn’t?_ Penelope thought, letting out a tired sigh.

***

When Penelope entered the dining hall the next morning, Caroline and Yves were already sitting at one of the tables, chatting about some random stuff.

“Good morning, ladies”, Penelope said, sitting down next to Caroline.

“How did you sleep?”, Caroline asked, watching Penelope scooping pancakes in her mouth. The girl nodded in response, not able to say something, still scooping the food in her mouth.

“You know, you don’t have to make it _that_ obvious, that the food here is much better than what I cook”, Caroline said, making a face, “it’s not like you were starving or something.”

Penelope choked on her pancake, after a few coughs she looked at the blonde, an apologetic smile on her lips, “I’m sorry, Care, you know I love your food”, she lied.

The blonde made a pouty face, while the raven-haired girl playfully elbowed her, both breaking out into a soft laughter.

The twin’s entrance went almost unnoticed, until Caroline waved at them, calling them over, “girls, you can sit with us.”

When her eyes met green ones, already staring at her, Josies smile vanished from her face. She stopped moving and Lizzie almost ran into her, “you can do it, Jo. She’s just a girl”, she reassuringly whispered, following her sisters gaze.

_Stupid twin bond_, of course Lizzie knew immediately what Josie felt, looking at her ex.

“Ok”, she breathed out, closing her eyes, biting her bottom lip, before she continued walking towards her mother and the girl she used to love, “I can do that”.

Yves immediately sensed the shift in Penelope. A minute ago she was joking around with Caroline, she was the Penelope that Yves used to know, the one she had seen interact like mother and daughter with the blonde a thousand times before, but as soon, as the twins sat down at their table, Penelope went quiet. Shooting longing glances towards Josie, who did the same towards her. It was so obvious, that both girls were not over each other, that they felt the same heartache but in different ways. Penelope had left Josie, with a reason Josie didn’t understand, that’s what Penelope had told Yves. But Josie also didn’t know that Penelope broke her own heart, while she broke up with her.

“So, girls. What are your plans for your big day?”, Caroline asked, pulling Yves back to the here and now.

“There’ll be a party on Saturday”, Lizzie answered, “I was wondering if you’d stay for that long?”

It was fascinating, how insecure Lizzie was around her mother, Penelope always thought. Often enough she had listened to Caroline and Lizzie talking over the phone, hoping to hear Josies voice, to get an impression about what was going on in her life, always surprised by the softness Lizzie could bring up towards her family.

Caroline looked at the raven-haired girl, silently asking if she was okay with staying a little longer. And Penelope’s eyes met Josies, who was still watching her. God, how much did she miss getting lost in those doe-eyes.

Caroline cleared her throat, “Pen? Would there be a problem with staying a little longer?”, she asked.

While Lizzies blue eyes were glaring at her, Josies doe-eyes were silently bagging her to say no, to give her more time with her mother, to make sure, that Caroline would stay.

And who was she to refuse Josies request, “you’re in charge here, Care”, she softly smiled at Josie.

“Whipped”, Yves coughed into her fist, bringing Penelope out of her daze.

Lizzie was still glaring at Penelope, “I didn’t know you had to ask for permission from Satan reincarnate”, she said through clenched teeth.

Before Caroline could say anything, the green-eyed girl broke eye contact with her ex, turning her head towards Lizzie, “she doesn’t, but since we’re here together it’s only polite to ask if I am okay with staying longer than … necessary. Something you clearly still haven’t learned yet”, a fake smile plastered across her face.

Lizzies expression was one of pure anger, she was fuming, “oh, and you would know everything about it, wouldn’t you, queen of selflessness?”, she angrily asked, almost spitting the words across the table.

Penelope breathed in, ready to respond with one of her snarky comments, but Caroline stopped her, laying her hand on the girl’s arm, her voice decisive, “that’s enough.”

Lizzie pushed her chair off the table, hitting her fist on the tabletop, “sure, mom. I get it, first dad replaced us with Hope, and now you’re doing the same with her”, narrowing her eyebrows, shooting a glare at her mother, almost able to kill, her index finger pointing at the girl.

“Liz”, Carolines voice was almost as quiet as a whisper, vulnerability resonating in it.

The younger blonde turned around, not saying another word, before she stormed out of the room, all eyes on her.

Caroline looked at Josie, an apologetic expression on her face, sadness in her eyes, quietly asking for forgiveness. Not for loving Penelope more than her daughters, because she didn’t, Penelope was like a daughter to her by now, but it was not the same compared to the twins. But for giving them the feeling of not being loved by their mother. Josie didn’t say anything, she just looked back and forth between her mom and her ex, not sure if she felt the same way Lizzie did. Yes, Caroline and Penelope obviously were close, they shared some kind of bond she didn’t understand yet, and probably more than just one secret, but did her mother love her more than her own daughters? She didn’t know, but she also didn’t feel like she did.

“I’m sorry, Caroline”, Penelope whispered, her eyes glued to the tabletop. The blonde didn’t respond, she only squeezed the girl’s hand, showing her, that it was okay, that it wasn’t her fault.

***

A few hours later, Penelope, Yves and Hope were sitting in the school’s garden, next to one of the greenhouses. During her time at Salvatore, this had been Penelopes favourite spot. And it still was. It was quiet and peaceful, but the one thing, which made her love this particular spot was the connection to nature she would feel every time being there.

Deriving from an old coven, bonded to one of the four elements, Penelope’s connection to not only water, but nature itself was strong. The greenhouses, full of herbs and plants of magical importance always would enhance this connection. She closed her eyes, feeling the magic radiating from the herbs, plants, the grass underneath her feet, listening to the wind rustling in the birches’ leaves. Experiencing a calmness like she hadn’t in month.

“Who’s that?”, Yves voice disrupted her. She opened her eyes, following the redheads gaze, seeing Josie sitting under one of the old oaks, Landon Kirby next to her. Her eyes finally landing on Rafael Waithe, pressing his lips on Josies cheek, a bright smile on them, his hand hidden behind his back.

“That’s Rafael Waithe, Josies boyfriend”, Hope answered, her eyes carefully observing Penelope’s reaction to her words.

The raven-haired girls face stayed neutral, unimpressed by Hope’s words, and the short twitch of her eye almost went unnoticed, but the auburn-haired girl knew that she was only pretending to not care, that she was probably fuming inside, since she and Rafael never really liked each other.

“Since when?”, was all she managed to say, pain and distaste flickering across her face.

“Almost a year now”, Hope said, not taking her eyes off of her friend.

Penelope still watched Josie and the boy. He pulled out a bunch of red roses from behind his back, grinning from ear to ear, while holding the flowers out for Josie to take them. She responded with a thin-lipped smile, taking the flowers, her expression carrying something sad and a hint of disappointment.

“Tragic,”, Penelope said, earning confused looks from her friends, “that after a year wolfboy obviously still doesn’t know Josies favourite flowers, she doesn’t like roses”, she said more to herself.

“Doesn’t she, though?”, Yves said, seeing just a girl getting some flowers from her boyfriend.

“Josie loves flowers, almost all of them. Blue ones, yellow ones, white ones, and especially purple ones. She likes their looks, their beauty, their different shapes, their different smells. But she would always ignore the roses. Especially the red ones. They smell good, they are beautiful, fucking romantic, but they’re just … roses. Overrated, stereotypical, too easy”, she said, still looking at the girl.

“Why doesn’t she tell him, that she doesn’t like roses?”, Yves asked, her eyes watching Penelope.

The raven-haired girl sucked in her bottom lip, she breathed out, a smile on her face, “that’s not how she is. She would never do or say something to make him feel uncomfortable. She probably told him already … but more like between the lines. Telling him, that she likes purple flowers, nothing too specific, but I guess he’s not attentive enough. Josie is simple, but you have to listen carefully.”

“Mh”, Yves absentmindedly nodded.

A comforting silence settled around the girls. While Penelope was still watching Josie, trying to be happy about some stupid romantic roses, she didn’t really like, Hope watched her best friend, drooling over a girl, who was still hers, without them both knowing yet. 

///

_The different smells were intoxicating. Every flower had its own specific smell, nothing too strong, but the mixture of all of them was something different. Josie felt a little dizzy, but in a good way. _

_Penelope was sitting cross-legged on the ground of the greenhouse, surrounded by a few pots with different herbs in them, scribbling down notes in her notebook. _

_“What was rosemary good for again?”, Josie asked, sitting opposite of her girlfriend, her eyes scanning the different plants in front of her._

_Penelope lifted her gaze, a smirk covering her lips, “it improves your memory and it can be used for healing spells”, she explained, before her eyes went back to her notes._

_Josies fingers were delicately caressing the plant in front of her, “and this one?”, she asked._

_“Bistort. Fertility, divination, clairvoyance. Burnt with frankincense, it enhances psychic powers”, the raven-haired girl answered, without really looking at the plant._

_Penelope Park was smart, one of the brightest students at Salvatore. She mastered almost every spell within the first few tries, she knew a lot about black magic, and her knowledge about the different effects of all the different herbs and plants was one of the most impressive things, Josie had ever seen. _

_“What are you taking notes for, when you already know all of that stuff anyway?”, Josie asked, looking at the raven-haired girl. _

_Penelope would spend hours at the greenhouse, taking notes, mixing different herbs with one another. Sometimes Josie would accompany her, not because she knew a lot about herbs herself, but just watching Penelope doing her thing. _

_She again lifted her gaze, looking at Josie. A soft smile on her lips, the sunlight hitting her face, causing her eyes to look even greener. _

_She was beautiful, Josie thought, wanting to touch the other girls face, to push the lose strand of hair behind her ear, to close the distance, kiss her lips, just be impossibly close to her._

_“I’m trying to figure out the best mixes for my weed”, the grin on her face, so goofy, so beautiful, made Josie almost lose it. _

_She bit her lip, her eyes flickering over the other girl’s lips. _

_Of course, Penelope would notice the movement of Josies eyes, and of course that smug smirk would return immediately to cover her lips. _

_“You know, you can kiss me anytime you want, Jojo”, her voice was soft, but seductive at the same time. Something only Penelope Park would manage to do. _

_A slight blush creeping up Josies cheeks, she tried to cover her face with her hands. She slightly shook her head, before she felt the soft skin of Penelope’s fingers caressing over her own, “Josie, you don’t need to hide”, her voice was still so soft, not more than a whisper._

_“What else do you want to know?”, the green-eyed witch asked, putting down her notebook and pen._

_Josie got up, letting her gaze roam around the room. There was marigold, lilac, lavender, and jasmine. _

_Penelope’s explanations were short, but enough for Josie to learn what was special about them._

_“Which one is your favourite?”, Penelope asked. She was standing behind Josie, her breath tickling Josies neck, sending shivers down her spine. _

_The brunette turned around, again glancing at Penelope’s lips. She was close, almost too close but at the same time not close enough. _

_Those damn eyes, Josie thought, almost getting lost in the green of them._

_She pushed her body past Penelope’s, slightly brushing her hand against the girl’s. Observing all the different plants, while walking past them, she said, “that’s actually really hard to answer. I like almost all of them, but I guess those are closest to what I’d call favourite”, she pointed at the purple flowers growing in one of the corners of the greenhouse._

_Penelope smirked, “monkshood”, she mumbled._

_Josie walked towards the plant, but before her hand could make contact with one of the flowers, Penelope stopped her, “invisibility, protection from evil. Poisonous”, she gave the other girl a short smile, “believe me, you don’t want to touch it.”_

_Josie blushed, pulling her hand back, clearing her throat, “what’s your favourite?”_

_The other girl bit her lip, thinking about Josies question, “I really don’t have a favourite. But I like green plants, without flowers.”_

_“That’s quite boring, isn’t it?”, Josie asked, a disappointed look on her face._

_Penelope chuckled, “I like seeing beauty in the seemingly inconspicuous things”, she simply said, earning a nod from the brunette._

_“Most girls would have picked those ones”, Penelope pointed at the red roses, growing in front of the greenhouse. _

_Josies gaze followed her finger, “roses are beautiful, but that would be too obvious, wouldn’t it? They are easy to pick, a symbol of affection, being romantic and all, but not very –“, she stopped talking, thinking about the right word to continue, “extraordinary.”_

_“True”, Penelope smiled, stepping closer to the other girl. Her hand carefully caressing her cheek, biting down her lip. _

///

“These are beautiful”, Lizzie said, smelling at one of the flowers, “did Raf get you these?”

Josie glanced at the bunch of roses. _Beautiful, but not very extraordinary. _

“Yes”, she simply said, watching her sisters smile.

Lizzie turned around, one of the roses in her hand, “I love roses.”

Raf was sweet, he was caring, in his own kind of way, he was kind, but in that moment, Josie thought about her raven-haired ex. She wouldn’t have gotten her roses, which were indeed beautiful but actually the most meaningless flowers ever. Sure, roses had always been a sign of a romantic gesture, they would be the flowers easiest to indicate romantic feelings, but they also meant that Raf didn’t listen to her. Roses were easy, too obvious, too overused.

“I don’t really like them”, Josie answered more to herself, earning a confused look from her sister.


	8. #8 - Aconitum napellus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola agin! 
> 
> Okay, I know, this is supposed to be a Posie fic and there is a .. lack of Posie at the moment :P But I wrote some chapters in advance, not realizing how long it took for them to finally interact at least. So, this chapter is a filler, kind of, but there's a bit of Posie in it, and a bit of Caroline and Pen.   
I promise, there will be more Posie in the near future ! :D

**#8**

It was late afternoon. Thinking about Penelope Park the whole day made Josie feel a little nostalgic. It was annoying how a simple bunch of roses would make her think about raven hair, green eyes, soft skin, and beautiful smells, when it actually was just a gesture of affection by her boyfriend. Her boyfriend, who she should think about instead of her ex.

Before she could even realize, where she was going, her feet already brought her back to one of the greenhouses. She took in a deep breath, opening the glass doors.

Besides the fact, that this always had been Penelope’s favourite spot and probably still was, Josie had always liked the greenhouses as well. The silence they’d bring, the smells, the magic she could feel, flowing within all the plants. Her hands gently stroked some of the leaves, she passed while walking along the aisle. 

There it was, monkshood, _Aconitum napellus_. The beautiful purple flowers she once declared her favourites.

Absentmindedly her hand moved towards one of the flowers, only inches away from the pain which would have followed, if her skin had made contact with it. A quiet “oh, sorry”, brought her back from her thoughts.

She immediately pulled her hand back, remembering Penelope telling her to better not touch the flowers, she turned around, seeing said girl standing a few feet away.

Penelope looked surprised, holding her notebook in one hand, already a few leaves and flowers of different herbs in the other, “I – uhm – I’ll come back later”, she mumbled, slowly turning around.

“Did you ever touch it?”, Josies soft voice stopped her.

“Only once.”

“What happened?”, her eyes still fixated on the raven-haired girl.

“It hurt, pretty bad. And my fingers went numb, before a nasty rash developed on them” the girl turned around, making eye contact with Josie. A soft smile was playing around her lips, “but if you eat any part of it, without knowing how to properly process it, you’ll probably die.”

“Hm”, she waved one last glance at the plant, “you don’t have to leave because of me. I’ll leave, I don’t even know what I am doing here anyway”, she honestly said.

Penelope looked at Josies fidgeting fingers, she was nervous. Her eyes were roaming around the room, not really meeting Penelope’s, while she was nervously chewing on her cheek.

“You could help me”, Penelope said, taking a step closer toward the brunette, “that is, if you don’t have to be somewhere else.”

Finally, Josies eyes met hers again, “what do you need help with?”

A smirk found its way on Penelope’s lips, “MG asked me for some of my special weed”, she took another step closer to the other girl.

“Of course, he did”, Josie chuckled, a bit of the nervousness falling off her shoulders, “but I am still not very good with herbs”, she confessed, shrugging her shoulders.

“That’s okay, I’ll tell you which herbs I need and what to do with them”, she held her hand out, passing the herbs, she already had collected, over to Josie. Nodding her head to the right, motioning Josie to follow her, she started to collect a few more flowers and leaves.

Working with Josie was always pleasant. Josie learned fast, she was inquisitive, willing to learn about new stuff, she would usually ask a lot of questions. But this was different. Both girls stayed quiet, Penelope was too concentrated on mixing the herbs correctly, while Josie simply watched her doing it. Her eyes roamed over the other girl’s features. Penelope looked almost the same, as the day she had left her with nothing more than a book, containing all the secrets of Salvatore, and a letter, which Josie had read too late.

Her hair was a little longer. Her eyes were still the greenest, she had ever seen, still those alert eyes, Josie had lost herself in countless times before. Her skin still looked too soft, to be real, but there was a small scar above her eyebrow now. She still would stick out her tongue, when she was concentrated, narrowing her eyebrows, breathing steady.

Josie bit down her lip, _how is she still this beautiful?_

The brunette cleared her throat, noting the redness developing on her cheeks, “why don’t you just show MG how to make the weed himself?”

A few seconds passed, Penelope needed to mix those herbs properly, to make sure the flavours, aromas, and spices would develop how they should, so that it eventually could show the desired effect. When she was done, she looked up at Josie, “first, it’s my recipe, I should be the only one who knows how to do it. Never make yourself dispensable. Second, he’s a vampire. Even if I told him, he wouldn’t be able to do it correctly. This is all about feeling the right amount of each herb”, she winked, making the blush on the brunette’s cheeks worse.

Both girls were still looking at each other, when it became quiet again. Neither of them breaking the eye contact, when the only thing they could hear were their own heartbeats.

Penelope’s expression was soft, the smile on her lips genuine, she licked her bottom lip, before she bit it down, breaking the settling silence, “so, you and wolfboy, huh?”

A shy grin began to form on the brunette’s lips. She lowered her gaze, breaking the eye contact, running a hand through her hair, “yes, it just –“, she sighed, “happened.”

Penelope responded with a soft smile, for a second Josie thought that something like sadness was flickering across her features, but it was gone the second she noticed it.

Seeing Josie and Rafael being happy from afar earlier that day was one thing, seeing her blush now, how a sheepish smile covered her lips, was a different thing. She had never wanted anything else, than Josie being happy. But seeing her happy because of someone else still hurt.

Deep down she had always thought, they would somehow find their way back to each other, that she was Josie’s once in a lifetime, like Josie was hers. But somehow Josie had moved on, she found her way not back into Penelope’s arms but into Rafael’s.

She bit her cheek, still looking at the brunette in front of her, noticing her nervousness coming back, due to her lack of an answer. She took a deep breath in, releasing it immediately, “that’s good, Jo. As long as he makes you happy, I am happy for you guys.”

“He really does”, Josie said in a not-so-convincing voice, but Penelope was already too occupied with her own thoughts crashing into her brain, to notice the lack of truth in Josies words.

_She’s happy, that’s good, that’s all that matters,_ Penelope thought to herself, “good”, a sad smile covering her face, which she didn’t try to hide.

She again focused on the herbs in front of her, the mixture was almost complete, when she noticed her hands shaking.

She licked her lips, her bottom lip trembling. _Josie was happy with someone else._

“What’s the deal between you and my mom?”, Josies question hit her off guard. Of course, it was only a matter of time before she had to answer it. But feeling the lump in her throat growing bigger with every second, she only shook her head, “I’ll answer all of your questions, I promise”, she stood up, grabbing the small bag with MGs weed, “but I have to go now.”

She waved one last sad smile at the girl, who was still sitting on the floor, before she turned around, mumbling a quiet, “I am sorry”, leaving the greenhouse.

When Penelope made her way back to the main building, it was already dark outside. She half-ran the way back into the building, not in the mood to meet anyone.

Suddenly she felt her shoulder crashing into someone, but before she could continue to walk in the direction of her room, delicate fingers were wrapped around her wrist, pulling her back.

“Pen, are you okay?”, Caroline’s voice was filled with worry, her expression carrying a matching amount of it.

Penelope bit her trembling lip, her breathing was a little heavier than only seconds before.

Caroline knew the girl good enough to sense, that something was off, so she pulled her into a tight hug, drawing comforting circles on the girls back with one hand, while the other was buried into her thick hair.

“I don’t know, if I am ready to tell her, Caroline”, Penelope’s voice was muffled by the blonde’s shoulder.

Caroline sighed, of course this was about her daughter, “I know baby, but she has to know eventually.”

Penelope wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist, pulling her closer, “I know.”

A few minutes went by, before Caroline released her from the embrace. She laid her hands on either side of Penelope’s face, her thumbs gently caressing the girl’s cheeks, “she’ll understand.”

The girl nodded, her gaze lowered to her feet, “thank you, Caroline”, she whispered.

Penelope was only 17 when she decided to give up her own happiness to safe a girl, who might never would choose her again. She gave up her youth, was forced to grow up too fast, faced with the dangers an old curse would bring with it.

In moments like these, Caroline could still see the 17 years old girl, standing at her doorstep in Belgium, trying to stubbornly convince her to let her help saving her daughters.

She pulled Penelope’s face closer to her, kissing her forehead, “always, baby”, she whispered, feeling like she never had said anything more truthful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. :)


	9. #9 - Raspberries or Blackberry Leaves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back everyone who's still following this fic! :D  
I know y'all want Posie, and there will be Posie in the next chapter! I promise!   
This chapter is for all the fellow Henelopes. 
> 
> This chapter also contains smut! I'm not really good at writing it, but still .. haha enjoy!

**#9**

When Penelope finally made it back to her room, she was greeted by three worried faces. Yves was sitting on her bed, while MG and Hope were sitting on Penelope’s.

“Are you okay?”, Hope asked. 

She walked through the room, sitting down next to Yves, “sure”, she mumbled.

“Pen”, Hope’s voice was almost motherly, “I know when you’re lying.”

Absentmindedly Penelope started opening the bag of weed she was still holding.

“Tell us what’s wrong, please”, MG’s tone was worried.

Yves laid her hand on Penelope’s thigh, waiting for her to look back at her. When Penelope finally made eye contact with the other girl, she said, “they should know.”

Penelope sighed, closing her eyes, “okay, but I’m going to need some of this”, waving the weed bag in front of her face, “I’m going to make you a new one tomorrow”, looking directly at MG, who only shrugged his shoulders.

The three watched Penelope preparing her weed, patiently waiting for her to start talking. But Penelope didn’t know how or where to start, so she stayed quiet.

“We heard you and Caroline earlier”, Hope tried to make it easier for the witch, “what does Josie need to know about? What are you helping Caroline with?”

After the first drag, Penelope could already feel the herbs effect on her body, calming her down, making her feel lightheaded.

“Did Josie tell you about the merge?”, Penelope went straight to the point, seeing no sense in holding back her secret any longer.

Neither Hope, nor MG looked surprised by her mentioning the merge. Hope took a deep breath in, “after you left, she would spend days at the library, looking for any information about it, but she couldn’t find anything. Alaric told her and Lizzie what he knew about it, which wasn’t much. He also told them that Caroline was looking for a way out of it and –“, and suddenly a train of realisation hit the auburn-haired girl.

Penelope never left because of her mother’s job. She had left because of Josie, but not because of the reason everyone was thinking about. It wasn’t because of their breakup, it was to safe her and Lizzies lives.

Looking at her friends face, she knew that Hope had already figured it out, “I went to Belgium to find Caroline. I found her a few weeks after I arrived. Since then I’m staying with her. We’re trying to find a loophole.”

“I’m a little lost here, what exactly is the merge?”, MG shyly asked.

“It’s an ancient ritual to determine the leader of the Gemini Coven. The twins will have to merge when they turn 22, the stronger one will absorb the magic of the weaker twin, who will then die eventually”, Hope explained.

MGs mouth dropped, his eyes opened wide in shock.

“Well, okay. That kinda … sucks”, MG said, running his hand through his afro.

Hope’s eyes were scanning Penelope’s features. Not really satisfied with her answer. The twins knew about the merge and they knew about Caroline looking for a loophole. So, they probably also figured out that, when she had said Penelope is ‘helping her with something’ it was something merge related.

“The twins know about the merge, obviously. They probably already figured that you being here with their mom has something to do with it. So, what’s it, that Josie has to know?”, she voiced her thoughts.

Penelope stayed quiet for a second, her eyes fixated on Hope’s. Talking about this to Yves wasn’t easy, but it still had been easier than talking to two of the twin’s friends, people who actually knew the twins, who loved them.

“I don’t know why –“, she started, exhaling, quietly hoping for something that would interrupted the group, something that would prevent her from talking further, but it never came. All eyes were on her, waiting for her to answer, so she finally continued, “but my coven is responsible for the merge. They put the curse on the Geminis a long time ago.”

For the next hours, Penelope tried to answer all their questions, to explain what they had found out already, what they knew about the merge and possible ways to avoid it.

She told them about some of the confrontations with werewolves, vampires and other witches they had, about how some scars had found their way on Penelope’s body, how she would always fight with Caroline about bringing herself in danger.

When the conversation slowly died down and all questions were answered, it went silent in the room.

“You really do love her, huh?”, Hope whispered, lying next to Penelope, observing the girl’s face.

“I do”, Penelope simply said, seeing no need in denying her feelings. 

“Why does your weed always taste like berries?”, MG curiously asked, after they sat down at one of the tables in the dining hall.

Penelope was feeling unexpectantly good after she finally had told someone about the last few years.

With Caroline it was always different, they never needed many words to explain themselves to each other. Caroline had developed some kind of motherly intuition towards Penelope, while the raven-haired witch had learned how to read Caroline’s facial expressions like a book.

And besides the fact, that it was nearly impossible for Penelope to lie to Caroline and for Caroline to hide her emotions or feelings from Penelope, they both had experienced most of the things together. So, there wasn’t much talking needed.

But finally telling someone about some of the things, she’s been through, made Penelope realize what she had been missing the past few years. Someone, who would give her shocking expressions, disbelieving noises, someone who would cover their mouth while she was telling them about her dangerous and risky adventures.

She felt like something heavy was taken off her chest, because after all she was just a young witch, who needed her friends.

A smirk covered her lips, “sometimes I just add some berries for the better taste, sometimes for other reasons”, she seductively raised a brow at the boy.

“You mean like –“, he cut himself off, moving a little closer to the raven-haired girl, whispering, “sex herbs?”, his eyes nervously making sure, nobody else was listening.

Penelope started laughing and MG carefully moved out of her personal space, awkwardly looking at Hope, who just shrugged her shoulders.

“Yes, MG. Sometimes I add raspberries or blackberry leaves”, she said.

“Aphrodisiacs”, Hope further explained, and Penelope approvingly nodded at her, silently acknowledging that Hope was probably the only person in Mystic Falls who could compete with her own knowledge about herbs and plants.

***

_Late summer nights like these were Hope’s favourite. When the wind was slowly but surely cooling down and the smell of summer rain was still hanging in the air._

_She knocked at the wooden door, patiently waiting for an answer, which never came. So, she opened it, whispering a short spell, Penelope had told her, enabling her to enter the locked room whenever she needed to. _

_She had always liked Penelope’s room. It was neatly but chaotic at the same time. Too many books, far too many plants, radiating a calmness she only knew existed within these walls. The smell of jasmine, sandalwood, and a hint of vanilla. All too familiar. _

_Pacing up and down a few minutes, she decided to open the drawer of Penelope’s desk, finding a fresh bag of weed._

_She could smell mint, lime, rosemary, lavender, a few herbs she couldn’t quite make out and something new. Raspberry._

_When she had finished rolling the weed, whispering a soft “incendia” to light the joint, inhaling the first drag, Penelope entered the room._

_Standing in the door frame, only wearing a towel, wrapped around her body, her hair still wet from the shower. _

_Hope eyed her from head to toe, noticing something about her, she had never really paid much attention to. Penelope Park was attractive, which Hope had noticed before, but something about her entire appearance was different that night. How the towel hugged her figure perfectly, showing off what was laying underneath it, without actually showing anything. How a few drops of water ran down her neck, along her collarbones, and further down. The slightly irritated look on her face, when she raised her eyebrow, looking at Hope._

_The auburn-haired girl bit down her bottom lip, holding the joint out for Penelope, who took it immediately, taking a few drags._

_She sat down next to Hope on the bed in front of the window, enjoying the cool air from outside, drying her skin and hair._

_“Did you know that in astrology, raspberry is governed by Venus and that its element is water?”, Hope asked, taking another drag._

_Penelope didn’t look at her, her eyes closed, her head slightly leaning back in her neck, “I know.”_

_Of course, she did. Nobody knew more about that stuff than Penelope Park herself._

_Hope smirked at her, “this weed is actually really good, adding raspberry makes the taste … mh … interesting.”_

_Raspberry. Penelope’s eyes shot open, her expression almost one of shock, when her eyes were darting back and forth between Hope and the joint in her hand, “oh shit, Hope! Did you take the weed out of the drawer of my desk?”_

_Hope looked at her confused, feeling a little lightheaded, calm but aroused at the same time. She couldn’t really focus on Penelope’s words, but more on her now dried skin, the still dampish hair, glued to her neck. She again bit her bottom lip. _

_The raven-haired girl looked at her, still a questioning look on her face, which wasn’t really necessary anymore at this point. Of course, Hope had taken the weed out of the drawer, she could already feel the effect it had on her body._

_Suddenly feeling a strong tension building up between her and Hope, how the other girl constantly bit her lip, that ‘something’ laying in her eyes, which Penelope hadn’t seen before, at least not directed at her. The air was sizzling with sensation._

_How Hope slowly licked her lips, her eyes flickering over Penelope’s body._

_“This is some kind of”, she awkwardly cleared her throat, “sex weed I made for Kaleb. Containing raspberries, blackberry leaves, aphrodisiacs!” _

_“Oh”, Hope released, her voice oh so innocently sweet, her eyes still travelling up and down Penelope’s skin, not really paying attention to Penelope’s words._

_She connected her fingers to Penelope’s knee, slowly walking her index and middle finger up her thigh, “I am … sorry?”, she innocently asked, playfully raising her brows._

_Penelope’s eyes were following Hopes fingers, walking up her leg, “Hope, what are you doing?”_

_Her breathing was getting heavier, the sensation Hopes fingers brought to her skin was different from everything she knew. Her fingers were gentle, soft, the touch of them almost innocent, still her skin was burning wherever they had touched it. _

_Penelope bit her cheek, closed her eyes, taking in a sharp breath, when the other girl’s fingers reached the hem of her towel, slowly pushing it upwards._

_The movement stopped, the witch slowly opened her eyes, still holding her breath._

_“What do you want me to do?”, Hopes voice was huskier, deeper, more seductive than usual. The smug smirk on her lips looked good, something that Penelope had never really noticed before._

_“I –“, the raven-haired girl gulped, sucking in her lips, her breathing still heavy._

_For a few seconds both girls didn’t move. Hopes eyes were observing Penelope’s face, while Penelope still tried to fight the heat radiating from her middle. Hopes hand was so close, almost too close, to were Penelope wanted, no needed, it to be. _

_Fighting against it was a lost cause, Penelope knew that, the herbs were strong, her body had already crossed a point of no return, she wanted Hope, she needed Hope. Her touch, her lips, her taste, all of it. _

_“Oh, fuck it”, she released the breath, she had been holding for the past few seconds. _

_With one hand she grabbed Hope by her neck, pulling her closer, capturing her lips in a hungry kiss, while the other hand guided Hopes fingers closer to where she wanted them. _

_Penelope leaned back, while Hope climbed on top of her, straddling her legs, never breaking the kiss. _

_She buried her hands in raven-coloured thick locks, slightly pulling at them, while Penelope’s hands were gently squeezing her hips, carefully pushing her shirt upwards._

_Hope’s lips travelled down to her neck, leaving a trail of sloppy, eager kisses, she slightly bit the skin connected to her lips, sucking, kissing, causing Penelope to release a series of soft moans, while Hope’s lips travelled further down her body. _

_“You haven’t answered my question, yet”, the auburn-haired mumbled between kisses, causing Penelope to shiver._

_She pulled at the hem of Hope’s shirt, “I want you to take that off”, she said, her breathing heavier than before. _

_Hope stopped kissing her neck, leaning back a little, biting her lip and looking into hungry green eyes, “just as you wish”, she whispered, before she slowly, almost teasingly took off her shirt, throwing it across the room, “what else do you want me to do?”, she seductively asked, smirking at the other girl. _

_Penelope’s hands started unbuttoning her jeans, her eyes never leaving ocean blue ones, “now”, she breathed out, licking her lips, glancing at Hope’s newly revealed skin, “I want you to take these off as well.”_

_The auburn-haired girl rose, Penelope immediately felt like something was missing when the skin-contact broke, but her eyes never left the other girl. She slowly moved a few steps away, before she turned around, looking at the green-eyed witch. Too slowly she took off her jeans, enjoying Penelope’s longing look on her body, which was sending shivers down her spine, making her skin feel like it was on fire._

_When Hope finally got rid of her jeans, wearing nothing more than her underwear, Penelope again licked her lips, letting her gaze roam over the girl’s body, “and now”, she slightly turned her body, so that she was facing Hope, while she slowly loosened her towel, giving Hope a first glance of what would be hers for the next few hours, “I want you to fuck me, Hope Mikaelson.”_

_A second later Hope was straddling her again crashing her lips onto Penelope’s, catching a moan with her own mouth. She pushed Penelope down on the bed, pushing her hands over her head and pinning them down with hers. With the other hand she grabbed Penelope’s chin, turning her head to the side, roughly kissing the girls now exposed neck, the spot beneath her ear, her jawline, “so bossy, that’s hot”, Penelope’s body reacted immediately to the kissing, the sucking, the hot breath against her ear. _

_Hope’s hand made its way down Penelope’s body, gently caressing her chest, her stomach, until she reached the point where the raven-haired girl craved her touch. _

_Hope could feel Penelope’s body wince when her skin made contact with wetness and heat, somehow reassuring her, that what she was doing was exactly what the other girl wanted. _

_Penelope couldn’t hold back the moans escaping her mouth anymore, pushing her hips a little upwards in the search of friction, which Hope’s hand had refused to give so far. It was almost infuriating how Hope enjoyed refusing to even push Penelope towards the edge. And that stupid smug smirk on her lips, Penelope couldn’t stand any longer, so she freed one hand out of the other girl’s grip, pulled her down by her neck, kissing her roughly, pushing her tongue against the girl’s bottom lip, and Hope instantly kissed her back with the same amount of roughness and desire._

_“Hope, please”, against her own will, Penelope started bagging. The weed taking its toll on her, not ready to wait any longer, in desperate need to be pushed over the edge._

_“Say it.”_

_Penelope didn’t like how much Hope seemed to enjoy her bagging, her desperation, how much she needed the auburn-haired girl right now to finish, what she had started. If only it wasn’t this hot at the same time, it was driving her crazy, turning Penelope on even more, making her feel like she was on fire and ready to explode any minute._

_“Would you please”, another moan escaping her throat, caused by a short movement of Hope’s fingers, “just fuck me, now!”_

_Finally Hope succumbed to Penelope’s begging and it didn’t take Penelope long to let lose completely, to abandon even the last bit of doubt and rationality out of her head._

_When Hopes work was done, Penelope suddenly flipped them over, now laying between the other girl’s legs. _

_Their chests were moving up and down heavily, catching her breath, Hope was taken by surprise, when Penelope suddenly pushed her leg up against her centre. Hope couldn’t help it, but moan at the sudden friction Penelope’s knee caused. _

_“Still too many cloths”, Penelope said between kisses, she was leaving at the girl’s neck. Kissing, slightly biting, leaving her marks. She opened Hopes bra, pulling it off and throwing it aside, hungry eyes scanning the naked skin in front of her. A smirk covering her face, before she started kissing Hope’s collarbones, down to her stomach, leaving her marks and tingling kisses everywhere in between. _

_She moved her body, so that she could easily lift up Hope’s thighs over her own shoulder, leaving kisses on their insides, coming dangerously close to the point where all of Hope’s nerves seemed to run together at the moment. _

_Her fingers slightly brushed over Hopes underwear, pulling it down gently, leaving even more kisses there. _

_Hope’s nerves were strained to breaking point, she almost couldn’t take it anymore, getting more impatient with every minute Penelope wouldn’t touch her. _

_Penelope felt the other girl’s hand on top of her head, almost innocently pushing her downwards, silently asking her to finish her, to release her, and Penelope’s smirk grew even wider. _

_“I should make you say it”, Penelope teased, earning an annoyed grunt from the other girl. Penelope chuckled, bringing her hand up, finally touching Hope, who immediately pushed her hips up. _

_“I hope you can handle this”, Penelope cockily said, starting to do things with her tongue, Hope had never even thought were possible. _

_And she handled it, not once, not twice, not thrice. At one point they had stopped counting, after hours, when both girls laid next to each other, exhausted, heavy moving chests, not able to really move or speak anymore._

_When they finally caught their breaths again, Penelope turned around, leaning her head on her palm, her eyes roaming over Hope’s features, while the index finger of her free hand gently draw little patterns on the other girl’s skin. _

_Hope turned her head slightly, giving Penelope a soft smile, not regretting anything that had just happened, quite the opposite actually, happy that it had happened with someone she could trust, someone she loved more than anyone else._

_“Now I have to take another shower”, Penelope mumbled, hiding her face in the crook of Hope’s neck, wrapping her arm around the girl’s torso, pulling her closer to her own body._

***

Penelope and Hope shared a knowing look. When they broke eye contact, Hope’s cheeks turned red, while Penelope awkwardly cleared her throat.

“So, you and Hope, huh?”, Yves smirked at her friend, winking at MG, who suspiciously looked back and forth between the two suddenly very quiet girls.

Hope brought her glass to her lips, mumbling “it happened only one time” into it, before she took a huge sip of her beverage.

“At least because of the weed”, Penelope shrugged, not really thinking about what she had just said, until Hope suddenly choked on her drink. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> POSIE NEXT CHAPTER!! Whoop whoop! :)
> 
> Have a nice week!


	10. #10 - "Happy birthday, Jojo."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally some Posie content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all: thank you everyone for the nice comments and the kudos! I never would have guessed that so many people would read my stuff. <3
> 
> So, I thought I could be a little productive over the weekend.   
Here is a new chapter, and guess what, there is Posie!!! Finally!!!!

**#10**

Mornings were great to spend some time at the library, since it would be too crowded during the afternoon and sometimes even until the late evening. But in the morning the large room was almost empty, only some tables were occupied by still half-asleep students, their heads buried deep into books about history of magic, the importance of herbs and plants, magical artefacts, and books about algebra and world’s history.

Penelope stepped into the room, breathing in the smell of old leather, worn out paper, dusty bookshelves. She slowly walked towards one of the wooden shelves, her fingers gently stroking along the backs of some books, her head was tilted while she read the different titles.

“Looking for something specific?”, a familiar sounding voice asked.

“Actually, yes”, she said, turning around. Dorian Williams had always been one of her favourite teachers at Salvatore.

He gave her a warm smile, opening his arms wide. She playfully rolled her eyes, pressing her head slightly into her neck, while she slowly walked over to him, letting him pull her in for a short but tight hug.

“I’m looking for books about coven’s history”, Penelope finished answering his previous question.

He narrowed his eyes, “let me guess. The Gemini Coven?”

“No. The Undine Coven.”

“Well, in that case”, Dorian started moving across the library. He didn’t need to turn around to know, that Penelope was following him, her gaze roaming over the many books they would pass, “I only have one book where it’s mentioned.”

He reached for an old looking book, _European Covens and Their Elements_, she quietly read to herself.

“You’ll probably only find some basic information in here”, he apologized, while handing her the book, “what are you looking for anyway?”

She opened the book, flicked through some of the pages. A few seconds passed, before she suddenly closed the book again, looking at him, an impish grin plastered across her face, “I’m only curious.”

Dorian eyes were following Penelope, who already made her way to one of the tables, for a few seconds, before he slightly shook his head, moving back to his desk.

After only twenty minutes Penelope was done reading the chapter about the Undine Coven. Not much wiser than before, since the book was not really digging deep into the coven’s origin or its history in general. The Undine Coven was bound to water, its members were descendants of the first Undines of Europe, and that was basically all the information the book would provide.

She leaned back in her chair, closing the book in front of her, when she noticed Lizzie glaring at her from across the room. Their eyes met for the split of a second, before Lizzie lowered her gaze back to the book she was reading.

Penelope kept watching the blonde, a smirk on her lips, her elbows placed on the tabletop, her chin resting in her palms. Her eyes narrowed, catching Lizzie’s gaze, whenever she was glaring in her direction.

“Elizabeth Saltzman”, she blurted out, when Lizzie’s eyes made contact with hers again. Penelope’s position remained unchanged, a wide grin covering her lips now, while Lizzie clenched her teeth, trying to ignore the sudden unwanted attention. Not only Penelope was looking at her, but all the other students, who were startled by Penelope’s sudden outburst.

“Like what you see?”, the raven-haired witch cockily wiggled her brows. To her surprise, Lizzie just grabbed all her books and made her way across the room, letting herself fall onto the chair opposite of Penelope without releasing any snarky comment or sassy answer. 

Lizzie pulled out a piece of paper, which was stuck between two pages of one of her books, she wordlessly pushed it towards Penelope, who eyed the paper suspiciously, before she read the two words written on it.

A moment passed, before she asked, “who is Kai Parker?”

_Okay, so mom didn’t tell her everything_, the siphoner thought, a short smile flickering over her lips, “apparently that’s our uncle”, she explained.

Penelope’s eyes were narrowed again, her chin raised a little, “didn’t know we had a common uncle.”

Lizzie’s face stayed unfazed for the first few seconds, before she disbelievingly shook her head, “wha –?”, she started, annoyance written all over her features, “no. Josie’s and my uncle.”

“I’m just kidding”, Penelope chuckled. The blonde’s answer consisted of an annoyed eyeroll, underlined by a deep groan.

The raven-haired witch pursed her lips, “okay, and I need to know the name of your uncle because?”

“He was our bio mom’s twin. A Gemini twin”, the blonde explained.

Penelope’s expression was still unfazed.

“Well, and people say that you were one of the smartest witches at Salvatore”, Lizzie’s voice was carrying a noticeable amount of irritability, matching her facial expression, “Jo and Kai were Gemini twins. Only Gemini twins need to merge.”

“He’s the one who killed your mom”, green eyes were full of realisation.

“Yes”, the other girl answered, well aware that her twin had probably told Penelope about their mom’s tragic death at her own wedding day, “but Kai is still alive. And maybe –“

“He knows a way to avoid the merge”, Penelope finished her thought.

Both girls stayed quiet for a few minutes. Lizzie let her gaze roam over Penelope’s face. She could practically see how the little gear wheels in her head started to spin, how she was thinking about all kinds of questions, which needed to be answered.

“Why are you telling me all this?”, her expression was serious.

Lizzie took a deep breath in, releasing it slowly, “you are helping my mom finding a loophole for the merge.”

“I –“

“Yeah, I figured. It was the only reasonable excuse I could think of, why you would leave my sister, after revealing our parent’s biggest secret. And suddenly you and my mom show up at Salvatore together. Then it dawned on me, of course _the_ Penelope Park would strike out to rescue the twin’s life in the most heroic way there is, wouldn’t you?”, her voice was a harsh whisper, she was waving around her arms, underlining her said words, her expression showing pride, like she finally had solved a puzzle consisting of a billion pieces.

When she was done whisper-yelling at Penelope a beat passed. Then two. Both girls where glaring at each other, both ready to stay like that for a lifetime, not ready to be the first one to give in, when Penelope sighed eventually, “I’m not doing this for you.” 

“Oh, believe me, I know that”, a sad smile playing on Lizzie’s lips for only a heartbeat, before it turned into a smug grin, “and I get, why you’re doing it, really. And even if I don’t know yet, why you and my mom are so secretive about it, I guess, I need to accept, that we are playing on the same team now.”

There was nothing but honesty behind her words, and Penelope could see that she was serious. Her eyes were carrying sadness within them, and some kind of acceptance, that she was doomed to either kill her twin, or to be killed by them, if they didn’t work together to find the loophole before they’d turn 22.

“And I am sorry for yelling at you the other day”, she added. And again, her words were full of honesty.

Penelope licked her lip, her eyes fixated on Lizzie’s blue orbs, a look of surprise apparent on her face, “wow, Lizzie Saltzman actually apologizing”, she sarcastically said, but Lizzie understood. This was Penelope’s way of accepting her apology. So, she smiled a cheeky smile and said, “don’t flatter yourself, I didn’t go to therapy the last four years for nothing. But that doesn’t mean I like you now.”

“Same”, Penelope smiled, silently appreciating Lizzie’s frankness. Within seconds the charged atmosphere between the two witches changed. A thought crossing her mind, that maybe, if things had gone differently, and maybe the fate of the Gemini twins wouldn’t be imposed on the Saltzman’s, Lizzie and she could’ve been friends.

“So,” Penelope clapped her hands, banishing the thought of a friendship that could’ve happened, under different circumstances from her mind “where do we find Kai?”

“Well, that’s the tricky part. He’s currently trapped in a prison world.”

The raven-haired didn’t look surprised. She knew all about the Gemini Coven’s love for creating prison worlds, keeping their enemies and their coven’s outcasts trapped there.

“Our dad has something called ‘the ascendant’ in his office”, Lizzie started to explain. And then, she shared all her knowledge about the ascendant, how the twins had helped their aunt Bonnie with creating the prison world their uncle was trapped in, how Josie then remembered it, stole the ascendant from their dad’s office, and told Lizzie about it, how they never tried opening the world again, never tried to reach out to Kai. How Josie then returned the ascendant back to Alaric, too scared to take the risk of opening a portal for their mad uncle to leave his personal prison.

And Penelope listened, asking a question here and there, scribbling down some questions, Lizzie couldn’t answer, notes about all the things, which could possibly become important at some point. 

Hours passed, before both girls accepted the settling silence, which embraced them. A weight falling off both their shoulders, finally able to talk about the merge and possible ways out, with someone other than the usual minds, who would always come to the same conclusions. It felt like a breeze of fresh air, providing fresh oxygen for their braincells, suddenly revealing new connections and hints they couldn’t bring up before.

“Does Josie know?”, Penelope whispered, nervously chewing her cheek.

“I guess so. We never really talked about that, or you for that matter”, a sympathetic look on her face, “but she’s smart, she probably connected the dots even before I did.”

She simply nodded in response, “can I ask you one more thing?”

“Shoot”, Lizzie nodded.

“Is she happy?”, her voice sounded weak, like it would break with every additional word. Knowing that Hope and MG would never hurt her, and therefore their answer probably wouldn’t be as honest, as she wanted it to be, Penelope knew that this was her only chance to get a proper answer to her question. Lizzie didn’t like her, so she didn’t really care if her answer would break her heart, that’s what Penelope thought. But Lizzie’s eyes carried something, she had never seen in them before. Pity. For the split of a second she feared that even the blonde was not able to tell her the truth, when Lizzie stretched out her fingers, moving forward her hand, like she wanted to sympathetically pat Penelope’s. But then she suddenly pulled her hand back, before their fingers could make contact, shaking her head, like she needed to get rid of her sudden emerging sympathetic feelings for the raven-haired girl in front of her, “she tries to be.” 

It was already dark outside, when Penelope left the library. Her feet carried her outside the building and into the garden. The sky was clear, a million stars shining above her head, the air not cold, nor warm. She took a deep breath in, before her eyes recognized familiar brown hair.

Josie was sitting on one of the benches, her back turned to Penelope. She was still absentmindedly looking at her, when Josie turned around, like she felt Penelope’s eyes on her.

“Hi”, Josie whispered.

“Oh”, Penelope slightly shook her head, Josie’s soft whisper bringing her out her daze, “hi Jo.”

While she was still standing there, a warm smile on her face, Josie’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. Her eyes were roaming over the raven-haired witch, but it was like she was looking through her. She lowered her gaze, when Penelope took a step closer, “what are you doing out here?”

Josie turned around, her back facing Penelope again. She put her head back, her eyes meeting a million stars, shining down on the two girls.

“Raf took me out on a date”, she said. Her voice was quiet, there was no excitement evident in it.

“Oh, that’s … great”, Penelope lied.

The brunette slightly turned her head, a sad smile covering her lips, before she turned it away from the other girl again, “yeah. But then Landon needed help with something. So, we went back here and now I’m just –“, she stopped talking for a few seconds, “enjoying the quiet.”

_Okay, so she was disappointed. Raf ended their date early, for his brother_, a situation Penelope knew all too well.

“I’m sorry about the date”, she said, pulling up her bottom lip, making a pouting face, “and I’ll go then, letting you enjoy the night”, she smiled, throwing a last glance at the brunette, before she turned around, ready to move back into the school building.

“Thanks”, she heard Josie standing up from the bench, “I guess”, taking a few steps closer, following after the raven-haired, “Penelope?”, barely a whisper.

Penelope stopped moving, but didn’t turn around, “yeah?”

“Do you wanna go for a walk?”, without looking at her, Penelope knew that Josie was nervous. Her voice was a pitch higher than usual, she could feel how the girl’s eyes were fixated on her back, knew exactly how Josie’s hands were nervously playing with the hem of her shirt.

Penelope was hesitant, still not turning around to the brunette, making a few seconds feel like an eternity for Josie, before she finally looked at her, a warmth radiating from her eyes, which was something only reserved for the siphoner, “sure, why not”, she released the brunette from her waiting.

They started walking in the direction of the forest surrounding the school, letting their feet drag them somewhere away from the main building.

They went next to each other in silence, minutes passed, their hands would brush against each other from time to time, and neither of them would pull their hands away. Enjoying the tingling sensation, the other one’s skin would leave on their own.

“So, how is being back in Mystic Falls?”, Josie broke the silence between them, her eyes directed to the ground in front of her.

Penelope didn’t need to think long about an answer, “it’s like nothing has changed, like everything is still the same, like it was four years ago. But at the same time everything is different”, she thought about her friends, Alaric’s office, about the Grill, which were still the same. Except they weren’t. Her friends had changed, she had changed. There was Caroline’s and her bond, there was Yves, there was a seriousness hanging over them, a dark shadow, brought to them by the merge, which was there before, except they didn’t know about it.

“I don’t really know how to explain it, but it’s like coming home somehow”, she finished, shooting an apologetic look at the brunette, because she couldn’t give her a better answer.

Josie’s hand brushed against hers once again, the skin contact lasting a bit longer than actually necessary, “I think, I get it”, Josie breathed out.

“It’s not only Mystic Falls, or Salvatore. It’s the people, who make it feel like home”, the witch confessed.

They continued walking in silence. Reaching a clearing. The Old Mill. A thousand fairy lights hanging from the trees, calmness radiating from the surrounding trees, standing there like guards protecting a fortress.

She was immediately remembering their last time at the Old Mill, how Josie would always catch her eye, no matter how crowded it would be, how many people there were.

They sat down next to each other on one of the tree stumps, their shoulders slightly touching. So many unspoken things hanging between them.

“So,” Josie cleared her throat, “tell me about that witch only school.”

And Penelope told her about the differences to Salvatore. About how fancy the place was, how everything was bigger and more expensive and prettier, but also more boring and lonelier. How she actually had missed being around vampires and werewolves. How she didn’t meet anyone like MG, Kaleb or Hope. How she would spend most of her time in the library or with Caroline, so that time for bonding and mingling was limited anyway.

“But you met Yves, didn’t you?”, Josie curiously asked, trying to prevent the jealousy, she was feeling thinking about the redhead, from becoming evident in her voice.

“No. We both went there, but I met her at university.”

And then she told her about university. About her studies, her professors, her fellow students, who didn’t know anything about supernatural stuff, about how she still liked studying Occult Studies, before they went silent again. Both their heads directed towards the sky, their palms pressed against the wood of the stump, fingers almost touching.

“Josie”, this time it was Penelope, who broke the silence, “there is something I need to tell you.”

Her tone was serious, her eyes still looking at the stars above them. So, now they finally reached the point where Penelope would be totally honest with her.

“Is it about the reason, why you and my mom are here?”, she asked, without looking at the other girl.

“Yes.”

“It’s about the merge then”, still no eye contact.

“Yes.”

Silence. A beat. And another one. Penelope turned her head to the side, eying Josie. The moon was almost full, its light reflecting in brown orbs, making them shine like chocolate-coloured gemstones.

Penelope took a deep breath in, holding it in her lungs, “it was my coven, who cursed your ancestors.”

And there it was. The secret Penelope and her mother were keeping from her and Lizzie.

Josie didn’t move, still looking at the stars, the moon, the sky. How was she supposed to react? Should she be sad? Mad? Angry? Relieved, to finally know at least something? She didn’t know how to feel or what to say. It was not Penelope’s fault, she was not responsible for her ancestor’s actions. But still Josie felt a pain raising in her chest. Thinking about Penelope being connected to her fate in any way made her feel like she couldn’t move, like she couldn’t breathe.

Her eyes were suddenly burning, she tried to keep her expression unfazed. And she knew, that looking at her ex would break her, that she wouldn’t be able to hold back her tears, seeing Penelope’s pitiful expression staring back at her. 

“Why?”, barely a whisper.

Penelope released the breath, she was still holding within her lungs, “I don’t know yet. But I’ll figure out why and how to undo it, I promise”, she honestly said. And Josie wanted to believe her, she really did, that’s why she tried, why she kept all the things, she was feeling to herself. For now.

“Okay”, she simply whispered, turning her head, looking directly at green eyes, feeling a little calmer immediately, not like she was safe, but like she could be. One day.

They stayed like that for a few minutes. Not moving, just looking at each other, no talking, just breathing, speaking without words, just with their eyes.

Somewhere in the distance they could hear the church bells of Mystic Falls ring midnight.

“I wanted to give you something”, Penelope pulled a small bag out of her jacket, handing it to the brunette.

She opened the bag, pulling out a bracelet. It was a simple golden chain with a blue stone, interspersed with green patches, “Pen, that’s beautiful.”

“It’s special. It’s an azurite-malachite stone, containing magic. An old witch from Bulgaria helped me casting a spell on it. So, whenever you need to siphon and there is nothing within reach, you can siphon from the stone. And when all magic is gone, you just need to add a drop of water and it will regain the magic”, the raven-haired girl explained, without telling her about the origin of the bracelet.

“Penelope –“, Josie’s voice was soft, quiet, careful. She didn’t know how to react. Again.

The green-eyed witch only gave her a soft smile in return, taking the bracelet out of her hand and carefully placing it around Josie’s wrist, closing the clasp. Her fingers slightly brushing over Josie’s, before she stood up, ready to leave.

“Happy birthday, Jojo”, she said, before she walked away without another word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will come back to the Undine topic in the next chapter, or maybe the one after.   
Feel free to leave comments. :D  
I probably won't upload anything else this week, because I am currently working on my master's thesis and I haven't really done anything for it up until now. :(
> 
> Anyways, have a nice week and thanks for reading. :)
> 
> For the people, who are interested, I imagened the stone to look similar to the one in the middle:  
https://www.marcoschreier.de/content/contentimages/rockpedia/azuritmalachit_maserung_mineralien_grosshandel_n.jpg
> 
> A kind reminder, that English isn't my first language, sorry for any mistakes.


	11. #11 - “I will come and receive your orders later, your majesty.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back everyone!
> 
> A lot of talking this chapter.  
This is not my favourite chapter, but I somehow needed to build a bridge for the up coming events. I hope you guys will still like it. :)
> 
> Have a nice week!

**#11**

Lizzie was already asleep, when Josie entered their room.

It was late at night, far passed midnight but Josie wasn’t tired at all. Her body was exhausted, the past days had been stressful. Lizzie was constantly shooing her up and down the main building of the school, all in preparation for their big birthday party, her mother finally came home for a visit, and as if that wasn’t enough already, she showed up with Penelope in tow, who was apparently working on finding a loophole for the merge the past few years.

So, Josie’s body was exhausted, she was tired, but her mind was wide awake. 

She was pacing up and down her side of the room, thinking. At first, when Penelope had left, Josie had tried to forget about her. She tried to forget her face, her voice, tried to stop thinking about all the situations when Penelope would suddenly appear out of smoke, just to make a snarky comment, look at her with a smug smile plastered across her face. She tried to stop wishing for the other girl to suddenly show up in one of the hallways, lurking for something to happen, or to just give Josie that one look, which was only for her. The one, when Penelope’s features would relax, when she would raise the corners of her mouth ever so slightly, when her gaze was soft, and her eyes would sparkle somehow. But the hardest thing to forget was her smell. Whenever she would smell jasmine, sandalwood, the hint of vanilla she was immediately seeing the other girl like she was standing right in front of her.

So, she tried to erase the good memories first, leaving behind only the bad things. But when nothing worked, she tried to concentrate on all those bad memories. She no longer tried to forget Penelope Park, but to hate her instead.

And it was no longer just the fact, that Penelope broke up with her without giving her a proper reason back then, or that she constantly managed to show up everywhere Josie was and thus disturbed her process of forgetting, or that she had kissed MG, her constant banter with Lizzie, that she still managed to make Josie’s heart skip a beat whenever she called her ‘Jojo’, when she made her feel like her feelings mattered, and she felt like she was … seen.

No, Josie tried to hate her all those years for that very reason, because Penelope was still able to make her feel all those things, because Josie would still think about all the good memories. About shared kisses and secrets, innocent touches, and the goose bumps they’d leave, made promises and her hope that one day, Penelope would come back to keep them.

But how could she hate her now? Knowing that it was all for her, that she had left her to safe her and her sister’s life, that she was still the girl, who somehow saw her. The way she had looked at her in the dining hall, when she wanted her mother to stay longer than only half a week but didn’t know how to say it.

How could she hate her, after she had heard the pain in her raspy voice, after she had seen the sad smile covering her lips, the softness in her eyes, whenever her gaze would meet Josie. The answer was simple, it hadn’t changed over the past four years. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t. She couldn’t hate Penelope Park. But she was still hurt, Penelope had still broken her heart, she had still left her. She was still angry and disappointed deep down.

Her pacing stopped, she was standing in front of the window, her hand playing with the bracelet Penelope had given her, while she watched the night sky.

Three days. It took Penelope Park only three days to invade her brain again, leaving Josie not one hour a day without thinking about her. She sighed, turning around, slowly walking towards her bed when she heard Lizzie’s voice, “you okay, Jo?”

The blonde slowly sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes, “what time is it?”

“Go back to sleep, Lizzie. It’s two in the morning”, Josie whispered.

Lizzie wordlessly eyed her sister. Something was bothering her. Or someone. She could feel Josie’s inner turmoil, and she had an idea about the reason, but she would have to wait until Josie would be ready to talk about it.

A thin-lipped smile covered her lips, “okay. I’ll wait until you’re ready to talk about what’s bothering you”, she said, turning around, pulling the blanket up to her chin.

_Stupid twin bond_, Josie thought before she laid down, waiting for the exhaustion of her body to take over.

When she opened her eyes, Lizzie was already running up and down their room. Rummaging in her closet, opening and closing drawers, throwing around shirts, skirts and other clothing items.

“Good morning”, Josie yawned, stretching her arms and legs.

“Oh, finally you’re awake”, Lizzie excitedly said, running across the room, pulling her twin in a tight embrace, “happy birthday to my favourite sister!”

The brunette weakly hugged her back, still half asleep, still feeling the exhaustion in every single bone, “as far as I know, I am your only sister”, she chuckled, “but happy birthday to you too.”

Lizzie kissed her cheek, finally letting go of her, before she again started rummaging in her closet.

“I’ll get that”, Josie groaned when they heard a knock on the door.

When she opened the door, she was met with green eyes and raven hair. A slight blush found its way on her cheeks, when she unnoticeably tried to finger-brush her hair.

“Penelope”, she whispered, like it was a secret, that the girl was standing in front of her door, “what are you doing here?”

Her voice was a pitch higher than usual, she tried to hide the smile, which was trying to creep up her lips.

“Hi Jojo”, there it was again. The nickname. Causing Josie’s heart to skip a beat. Penelope’s soft eyes, her raspy voice, “I, uhm, I’m here to talk to Lizzie, actually.”

Before Josie could respond, Lizzie was already standing next to her. Her expression was curious, but not the usual face, she would make whenever Penelope was around.

“What do you want, Park?”, Lizzie asked, her expression still curious, but there was something else, a mischievous smile, a sparkle in her eyes, the way she was not surprised that Penelope wanted to talk to her instead of Josie.

“I need you to come to my room later,” Penelope answered, mimicking the blonde’s smile.

For a few seconds the girls just stared at each other, wearing the same unreadable expression on their faces, somehow exchanging their thoughts without using any words.

Josie suspiciously watched, silently wondering, what was going on, before Lizzie broke the silence, “okay, but first we need to get some stuff done for Saturday. But if you could help”, she innocently smiled at the other girl, her index finger pushed against her chin, “I could make it to your room earlier.”

Penelope rolled her eyes, releasing a sigh, “still blackmailing people into helping you, aren’t we?”, she again sighed, but this time it felt like she was giving in, “I will come and receive your orders later, your majesty.”

The blonde gave her a triumphant smile in return, earning a quiet groan, “great, you know where to find me”, before she dismissed the girl with a wave of her hand, turning around.

“Oh, and Liz,” Penelope stopped her, her gaze going past Josie, “happy birthday to my last favourite twin as well”, she winked at the blonde, receiving an eye roll, before she turned her eyes back to Josie, “see you later, Jojo”, another wink.

When the raven-haired girl turned around, slowly walking away, Josie’s face was still carrying a curious but confused expression, “what the heck did just happen?”

Lizzie’s gaze met her through the mirror, “what do you mean?”

“You and Penelope. You were talking –“, she stopped, thinking about the right words to use, “without hating each other. And why does she want you, to come to her room later?”

“Don’t be jealous, my beloved sister”, Lizzie underlined her word with a dismissive movement of her hand.

Josie could practically feel the redness becoming visible on her cheeks, “I’m with Raf”, she blurted out, not sure why. Lizzie watched her with narrowed eyes, an amused grin finding its place on her lips, “yes, I know.”

The next few hours went by pretty quick. With Lizzie shooing around Josie and a few students to prepare everything for the party, Josie was distracted from her thought about Penelope, constantly invading her brain. And to her surprise, Penelope actually showed up, MG and Yves in tow, letting her twin tell her what to do.

“Hope”, Josie tugged the other girl’s arm, keeping her from picking up two chairs, “what is going on between Penelope and my sister?”

The auburn-haired girl followed Josie’s gaze. Penelope and Lizzie were standing in a corner of the room, talking. And although, the slightly aggressive tension, which was just normal for Lizzie and Penelope, was still visible between them, them talking looked a lot more civil than ever before.

“Hm”, Hope replied, “I don’t know.”

The evening came fast, and Lizzie was quite happy with the results of the day. Only one more day, and everything would be settled for the party.

Penelope was pacing up and down the room, while Yves was laying on one of the beds, holding a book in her hands.

Lizzie slowly opened the door, entering the room, her eyes roaming over the two girls. Penelope stopped her pacing, mumbling a quiet, “finally”, to which Lizzie replied with yet another eye roll.

Yves didn’t take her eyes off the book in her hands, an amused grin on her lips, “so, since you can’t have Josie for obvious reasons”, she glanced at Penelope, mouthing an inaudible ‘Raf’, before she continued, “are you going for the other twin now?”

Penelope clenched her teeth in annoyance, but before she could respond, Lizzie already complained, “I’m not just ‘the other twin’.”

“You were always just ‘the other twin’, Saltzman”, Penelope mimicked Lizzie’s disgusted expression, before she blew her a kiss and a smug smile spread on her face.

Lizzie narrowed her eyes, “whatever”, she mumbled and sat down on one of the beds, “why am I here anyway? Certainly not just so you can offend me, I hope.”

Penelope sat down next to her, sighing, rubbing the bridge of her nose, “no. It’s about the ascendant and your uncle.”

With those words the blonde’s attention was all hers, she straightened up, shooting the raven-haired witch a questioning look, “I’m all ears”, she said.

Penelope didn’t speak. Yves sat up instead, closing her book, exhaling almost dramatically, “creating a prison world requires a very powerful spell, which again requires a binding object to keep it active”, she started.

“The ascendant”, Lizzie whispered.

Yves gave her a nod. Explaining that a celestial event was needed to open a portal to the connected prison world, like it was necessary during the creation of the prison world.

“I mean, it’s called ascendant for a reason”, Yves shrugged, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. But the part which worried Lizzie the most was, that they also would need blood of the witch, who helped them create the world. Her aunt Bonnie’s blood.

When Yves was done with her explanation, Lizzie narrowed her eyes again, “how do you know all that stuff?”

Yves chuckled, then she again shrugged, “I’m majoring in coven’s history.”

The blonde continued to suspiciously look at her, one brow raised in question, “okay. Well, Bonnie will be here for the party, maybe we can get a little bit of her blood then. But what about the celestial event?”

Penelope cleared her throat, “Liz, we’ll leave on Sunday. I don’t think there’ll be a celestial event by then.”

Her voice sounded almost sad, her eyes were soft. Like she wanted to apologise to Lizzie, for disappointing her. Lizzie disbelievingly shook her head. No, they were so close, there was no way, she would stop now, “there is a way.”

“Which is?”, Penelope was curious, a sparkle in her eyes.

“I need to convince my mom to let me join you on your trip to New Orleans.”

Yves and Penelope exchanged glances. The raven-haired girl thought about Lizzie’s words for a few seconds. It was not perfect, but it was also their only chance, “okay, but you have to talk to Caroline”, knowing that Caroline wouldn’t be happy to know one of her daughters at possible risk. But Lizzie was stubborn, like Caroline was, and the only possible way for her to join them, was to convince her mother herself, “but Lizzie, there is one more thing”, she nervously bit her cheek, her gaze moving to her feet, “are we telling Josie?”


	12. #12 - "Can I have this dance?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi y'all! 
> 
> I'm back!!! And I am so sorry that it took a while but I had to finish my masters thesis and I finally submitted!   
I started working on that chapter a few weeks before I started working on my uni stuff so I am not totally happy how it turned out. But (!) the second half will come in a few days, I am still working on it. But I have a lot of new ideas (even if I forgot some of the old ideas .. lol). 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the new chapter, that is, if you guys are still reading! 
> 
> Have a nice weekend and see you soon. :)

**#12**

When Penelope had left the Salvatore Boarding School four years ago, she had left a book full of secrets behind. Telling Josie nothing about the merge but at the same time almost everything she knew about it herself.   
After Lizzie and Josie confronted Alaric about the ritual and what it would mean for them, Josie buried herself in the library of the school. Looking for answers, for hints, for books about their coven, the merge itself, just something that would help to understand the legacy Lizzie and she were carrying. Whereas Lizzie tried to ignore all the merge-talking as good as possible. At one point, Josie had stopped talking about it too. She never stopped worrying, though, and deep down she was thinking about it every minute of the day. At first, she tried to distract herself with Landon, playing the caretaker, putting too much effort in fixing problems, which weren’t her own. And after Landon and Josie ended things, she again concentrated on the merge, while Lizzie still wasn’t paying much attention to her impending fate to either kill her sister or to be killed by her. Then Josie started dating Rafael and she stopped talking about it again, and Lizzie was still ignoring the whole merge-thing.

But when Penelope suddenly showed up and it became clear that there were actually some people out there looking for a way out, it was like Lizzie finally had woken up from her daze. As if Penelope’s return had ignited a previously dormant spark in her. While Josie was not only distracted by Rafael, but also her ex now, Lizzie saw a chance to finally do her part.

“No”, she answered, not needing much time to think about it.

Penelope’s expression was tormented, “Lizzie, I think w –“, before she could finish her sentence, the blonde already said, “I know. We should tell her, but not yet.” Her voice was decisive, leaving not much room to argue, and Penelope just nodded.

“Good, that’s settled then. I will talk to mom tomorrow”, Lizzie clasped her hands, letting out a shaky breath, symbolizing that this conversation was over.

All three girls remained silent for a second, before Yves whispered, “well, she’s demanding.”

“What did you expect? She’s the one and only Queen Elizabeth”, Penelope whispered back. She tried to hide a smile by pushing her teeth into her bottom lip. 

Lizzie just lifted her chin and watched the girls with narrowed eyes, before she turned around to leave the room without another word. When she closed the door, she could hear them break out into laughter and she couldn’t prevent a smile from slipping onto her lips.

“Wow, Lizzie really managed to surpass herself. It looks incredible”, Yves said when her and Penelope entered the room. Penelope let her gaze roam around the room, responding with an approving nod. The ceiling and the walls were covered in a thousand fairy lights, sending waves of a cosy light through the great room. Wooden boxes covered in fluffy grey and white pillows were placed all over the room as well as larger wooden boxes converted into tables, decorated with candles and small green succulents. Simple lightbulbs were hanging from the ceiling, spending just enough light to create a mysterious atmosphere around each of the wooden tables. There was a separate area, which would be occupied by dancing people later that night and tables full of food and different drinks.

The whole atmosphere and style of decoration were so different from the usual parties that were thrown by the Saltzman twins. Everything just screamed Josie’s name instead of Lizzie’s this time, which made it even more perfect. Hope, who was already holding a drink in her hand waved at the arriving girls and immediately made her way through the crowd towards them. Her eyes followed Penelope’s scrutinizing gaze, “it’s so not Lizzie, is it?”

“It’s good to see, that she is finally giving more credit to Josie’s ideas”, the raven-haired witch responded, “where are the twins, by the way?” and as if on cue, the twins suddenly made their entrance. Slowly walking down the staircase, like pride lionesses, while their sparkling eyes were scrutinizing the entire room.

Yves mouth almost dropped at the sight of the twins. “They look absolutely stunning”, she whispered, afraid that any talking would ruin the moment. Hope and Penelope nodded in agreement, their eyes glued to the two arriving girls.

“You should ask her to dance with you”, Hope said, after she managed to tear her eyes away from the blonde twin. Penelope just pursed her lips, making a smacking noise, before she answered, “I don’t know.”

“But I do. She wouldn’t say no”, Hope encouraged the other girl, “there’s no way to escape the infamous charm of Penelope Park anyway”, underlining her words with a small wink. Penelope couldn’t stop the small smile from forming on her lips, knowing that Hopes wasn’t wrong at all. “Fine, I’ll ask her, but only if you”, she pointed at Yves, “are going to ask MG to dance with you and you”, she move her finger, so that it was pointing towards Hope, “are going to ask Lizzie.”

While Yves cheeks turned slightly red, Hope looked at her with a questioning look, but before she could even think about asking what Penelope meant, said girl already explained, “I see the way you’re looking at her. So, don’t tell me, that you don’t want her to dance with you. I know you, Hope Mikaelson”. And to Penelope’s surprise both girls agreed without any hesitation. She took a deep breath in, nervously wiping her hands on her pants and slowly started walking toward the brunette. She was crossing the room, making her way through the crowd, ignoring the fact, that it was nothing but awkward to ask her ex to dance with her, while said girl was dancing with her boyfriend. When she reached Raf and Josie, she nervously cleared her throat, rubbing her hands against each other.

“Oh, hi Penelope”, Raf said, making Josie almost aggressively turning her head around, looking at the raven-haired girl. For a second both girls were just looking at each other, while Rafael was uncomfortably stepping from one foot on the other. He awkwardly cleared his throat, expectantly looking at Penelope.

“Penelope?”, Josie’s soft voice brought Penelope out of her daze.

“I –“, she started, before she took a deep breath in, trying not to stumble over her own words, “can I have this dance?” Josie’s eyes moved to Penelope’s held out hand, her lips slightly parted. Before she could respond, Raf already said, “it’s okay Josie, you can dance with her”. Penelope slightly narrowed her eyes, as if Josie needed Raf’s permission to dance with somebody else than him. And as if Josie could sense the emerging bad vibrations, she took Penelope’s hand, mumbling a soft “sure”, and pulled her away from her boyfriend.

Dancing with Josie felt awkward. Penelope didn’t know what to do with her hands, she didn’t know what to say, or where to look and so felt Josie. Both girls were standing in front of each other, moving back and forth like strangers that were forced to dance with each other, and it was like the easiness, which was usually present between the two, was suddenly gone. Like the entire universe was trying to prove a point, that things between them ended for good. The music was too fast, but too slow at the same time, the room was too crowded but not crowded enough, it was too dark and too bright, and when Penelope was sure, that Josie would end their uncomfortable encounter, the band played a slow song, which wasn’t too slow, or too fast, or too uncomfortable, or too whatever it was. For the first time, the girls made eye contact, Penelope nervously bit her lip, while Josie carefully placed her arms on the other girl’s shoulders. Penelope placed her hands on Josies hips and almost unnoticeable pulled her closer. Josie released a heavy breath, softly laying her head on the raven-haired girl’s shoulder. She closed her eyes, without even noticing it, breathing in the smell of Penelope’s hair, finally feeling the easiness again, how natural some things could feel. A soft breath audibly escaped her mouth, causing Penelope to carefully tighten her grip on the brunette’s waist, pulling her even closer. And then they danced, simply as that.

When the band announced that they were going to take a break, Penelope brought a bit more space between their bodies, “I need a drink”, she explained, sensing the upcoming pout on the other girl’s lips. She turned around, releasing a deep breath, before she slightly turned her head, looking back at a brunette girl, who was pulling at her bottom lip, lost in her own thoughts, a shy grin on her face.

“I hope you are not here to take something that doesn’t belong to you anymore”, she heard a male voice next to her, while she was pouring a greenish liquid into one of the blue plastic cups. She turned around, facing Raf with an unimpressed expression, “you know, I never really liked you.” A few seconds passed, before he simply said, “the feeling is mutual.”

She turned away from him, facing the cup in her hands. Her synapses were shooting a million signals through her brain, forming a thousand thoughts about how Josie wasn’t his, how he wasn’t supposed to even call her that, how she didn’t need to steal anything from anyone, but for the sake of the twins and their evening she wasn’t in the mood to make a scene. With a fake smile gracing her face, she again turned around to face him, “I want you to promise me something.” His eyes met hers, carrying a challenging look on his face, “and why would I do that?” Penelope stayed unfazed, then she lowered her gaze, still wearing a smile on her lips, “because I will kill you, if you don’t.”

Rafael wasn’t stupid, if she wanted to kill him, she could, and he knew that she wouldn’t hesitate if the circumstances were right. Indeed, she could kill him in a heartbeat. Even though he was strong and fast, her magic was far more advanced than Lizzie’s or Josie’s, and maybe even Hope’s at this point. She was dangerous, ready to kill, he could see it in her eyes, so he nodded, giving her approval to elucidate the promise he would have to give.

“I want you to make her happy. To laugh about her stupid jokes, even if they’re not funny. I want you to love her, with all your heart, especially when she drives you crazy, and believe me, she will sometimes. I want you to be your best self, when you are with her, be the best boyfriend you, or anyone, could ever be. I want you to be honest, to never lie to her and most important, I want you to keep in mind, that she is her own person. That she doesn’t need anyone to protect her, because she really doesn’t, she can make her own decisions, as she should. She doesn’t need some one to carry her around. She seems so small and little and cute, but she is much stronger than it seems, and she deserves to be treated that way, to be happy, to be herself, to be Josie.” A few seconds passed, and again, he gave her a nod, “I promise.”

This time her smile was only short, but honest, sad but thankful, before she turned around one last time, leaving the room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! And a friendly reminder: English is not my first language. :D


	13. #13 - Decisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Better times will come soon, I promise. :D

**#13**

Josie was absentmindedly sipping at her drink, when Rafael gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. “Where is Penelope?”, she asked, looking at the table her ex was standing at only minutes ago. “Uhm –“, Raf let his gaze roam around the room, looking for raven black locks, “I don’t know.”

“What did she say to you?”, Josie asked, still searching for Penelope, not looking at her boyfriend. He gently placed his hands on her hips, turning her around to face him, “nothing”, he said, an uncomfortable smile on his lips. Josie eyed him, “why are you nervous then? What did she say to you?”

His eyes didn’t meet hers, he shifted from one foot to the other, with one hand he was rubbing his neck, “Josie, it’s not important.” But Josie couldn’t stop. Penelope never liked Raf and the feeling was mutual. When they were talking, Josie had watched them, and she immediately recognized the stiffness in Raf’s body posture, how uncomfortable he was and something else radiating from his body. Fear. “Please Raf, I need to know what she said”, Josie bagged. He took a deep breath in, his gaze lowered to the ground, “she told me to love you. To always treat you good. And that’s it, then she left.”

She bit her lip, her eyes narrowed. What was that supposed to mean? Did Penelope finally set her free? And why would she do that? Maybe Penelope was ready to let go of whatever the thing, which was still hanging between them was, but Josie wasn’t. Not after the past few days. “But where did she go? Is she okay?”, Josie asked, her bottom lip trembling, while her eyes were still searching for Penelope. Overwhelmed by the feeling suddenly making her gut wrench. She pushed her body past Raf’s, who was obviously confused by what was going on. He tried to grab her hand, but the moment his fingers closed to a fist, she was already too far away.

When she saw Penelope leaving the room, Yves followed her, pushing herself past the dancing bodies standing in her way. Her fingers closed around the other girl’s wrist, gently pulling her back, “you okay, P?” Penelope gave her a soft smile, “I am”, she said.

“What did you tell him?”, Yves asked, her hand still holding Penelope’s, giving it a light encouraging squeeze. The raven-haired girl lowered her eyes, looking at their intertwined fingers, knowing that Yves would hold her, no matter what, “that I’m going to kill him, if he doesn’t treat her the best he can.” The redhead pulled her in for a tight hug, and Penelope immediately reciprocated, releasing a shaky breath, while Yves whispered, “so, you let her go.”

They suddenly heard an opening door behind them and for the second time that evening Josie’s shaking voice carefully said the raven-haired girl’s name, “Penelope?” Both girls immediately turned around, facing a confused looking Josie, who’s was looking at the intertwined hands in front of her with narrowed eyes. Penelope, following Josie’s gaze, immediately let go of Yves hand, awkwardly hiding her hands in the pockets of her jeans. But before she could say anything, they heard another door. All three girls looked around the corner, where Lizzie was closing the door of her dad’s office, suspiciously letting her gaze wander around the empty hallways, making sure that nobody saw her. She was holding something in her hands, which Josie immediately recognised, but before she could confront her sister about her intentions, her mom appeared down the hallway.

“Hey, honey”, Caroline greeted her daughter, “why aren’t you in there?”, she pointed at the closed doors behind the other girls, while Yves, Penelope, and Josie hid behind the wall when Lizzie’s gaze followed her mother’s finger. “I – uhm”, Lizzie stumbled over her own words, “I actually wanted to talk to you.”

“Okay, what about?”, Caroline smiled. Josie again narrowed her eyes. Why was Lizzie in their dad’s office? Why was she nervous now, talking to their mom? She was leaning against the wall, her hands pressed against it, Penelope was standing next to her in the same position. Her hands pressed against the wall, her eyes carefully watching Lizzie and Caroline, completely focused on them. Her hand was so close to Josie’s, so damn close, their pinkies were almost touching.

“I want to come with you tomorrow”, she heard her sister say. The older blonde took a deep breath in, but before she could respond, her daughter already continued, “mom, I know, what you are doing, and I want to help. And since it’s my life this is about, I have the right to do so.” 

Lizzie was stubborn. If she wanted something she would go as far as she had to, and Caroline knew that there was no point in arguing, so she released the breath she was holding, “okay, fine.”

“And also, I am not a child anymore”, Lizzie continued. A small smile found its way on Caroline’s lips, while she was just watching the younger blonde in amusement. Lizzie was right, she was Caroline’s child and as her mother she would always try to protect her, to keep her away from danger, but she wasn’t a child anymore. It was her life, so Caroline understood Lizzie’s urge to take the twins fate in her own hands. “Lizzie, I said it’s okay”, she smiled at her daughter, who looked at her with a confused expression on her face.

“Well, that was easier than I thought”, Lizzie awkwardly laughed. “You are right, Lizzie. It’s your life, and you’re an adult now. I am not happy about it, but I guess it’s your decision to make”, she gave her a sad but understanding smile, reminded of a similar situation four years ago, when Penelope Park suddenly was standing in front of her, throwing her stubbornness right into her face, trying to convince her with arguments so plausible and heart wrenching to hear. She wasn’t happy back then either, but she had said yes, so she owed Lizzie the chance to fight for her and her sister’s life. “Thank you, mom”, Lizzie mumbled into Caroline’s shoulder, after she pulled her in for a tight hug.

After Caroline had left the hallway, Lizzie was on her way back to her room, when she heard footsteps behind her coming closer. She turned around, facing a confused and angry looking Josie, closely followed by Penelope and Yves.

“Lizzie, what the heck are you doing with the ascendant?”, Josie whisper-yelled at her sister, “and what do you mean you want to join mom and Pen?”

“And me”, Yves whispered, getting nudged by Penelope’s elbow. “What?”, she formed the word without saying it, shrugging her shoulders, while the raven-haired girl only rolled her eyes in return. Josie stopped in front of her sister, her arms crossed in front of her chest, “Lizzie, what is going on?” Lizzie’s look for help at Penelope didn’t stay unnoticed, and Josie abruptly turned around, also looking at her ex now, “so, this is something about the merge.”

Penelope gave the blonde a small nod, closing her eyes in defeat. So, Lizzie told her sister about the plan to open their uncle’s prison world, and to hopefully find answers about how to stop the merge. When Lizzie was done explaining, all girls remained quiet for a few seconds. Three pairs of eyes on Josie, waiting for her to say something.

“And you didn’t think about asking me for help or at least letting me know?”, Josie quietly asked. Lizzie was getting ready for Josies anger to completely hit her, but instead Josie turned around, her index finger pointing at Penelope, “this is all your fault.”

Penelope narrowed her eyes, a questioning look on her face, “my fault?”, she asked. Josie took a step closer, dangerously close, “yes, Penelope. Since you’re back, you and Lizzie are whispering behind my back all the time. I bet you told her not to tell me about your plan.”

“We just wanted to protect you”, she explained, not telling the brunette, that it actually was her sister’s wish to not tell Josie about their plans yet. “I don’t need to be protected. And I really don’t need you to do it, Penelope”, Josie almost spit the words in Penelope’s face. Green eyes were examining Josie’s angry expression. “Josie,” she tried to calm the other girl down.

“Don’t ‘Josie’ me. This is my life we’re talking about. And Lizzie’s, but not yours. You don’t have to always do this”, Josie was still yelling.

“Do what?”, her voice was quiet, but still loud enough to stop Josie’s rant.

“You don’t always need to pretend to know me better than anyone else. You don’t need to pretend that you know better what I need and want than I do myself. Because you don’t.”

A beat passed. So, this wasn’t just about not telling Josie about the plan to talk to Kai, but all the other things that happened four years ago. All eyes were on Penelope, who was just standing there, watching the brunette in front of her. Her pain, her anger, her disappointment. After all those years, she could finally see it not only scratching the surface, but Josie voicing her feelings, and she was feeling all those things because of Penelope. Because Penelope did, what she thought was right. “I thought you wanted all those things”, she said with a careful tone in her voice.

“I did. I really did, Pen. But I didn’t want anyone to spy on me and make those decisions for me”, Josie said, her voice a little less angry. The raven-haired girl bit her lip, her eyes jumping between Josie’s brown orbs, “I never made any decisions for you.”

And within the split of a second, Josie’s angry expression was covering her face again, “wha-“, she started, angrily pushing her hand through her brown locks, pacing up and down the hallway, “what about the honour council? You didn’t even think about asking me first, if I wanted to compete against Lizzie. You just assumed that I wanted to win, just because I thought it would be nice to be on it.”

The green-eyed witch clenched her teeth, “you could’ve turned the seat down, I never made you accept it.”

“Still, you made Lizzie hurt by making me win”, the brunette yelled. Penelope’s eyes met Lizzie’s, who was giving her an apologetic look, just slightly shrugging her shoulders, not really angry about the things that happened four years ago anymore. But Josie’s pain was sitting deeper, obviously. “So, this is about Lizzie. Again”, Penelope’s pain was also sitting deep. It was like they were returning to the exact same point they were turning around four years ago. 

Josie rolled her eyes, groaning in annoyance, “no, this is not about Lizzie. This is about me. And you. And just one example of a situation, in which you hurt someone else’s feelings to once again become a knight in shining armour”, with those words she finally made eye contact with Penelope, which she immediately regretted. Penelope’s eyes were the saddest thing, Josie had ever seen, or at least she thought so. She could see the tears forming within the green orbs, and it took everything in her to not reach out to touch Penelope’s cheek, to carefully caress the other girl’s soft skin, “you know”, she said in a much softer voice, “all I wanted you to do was stay, but you didn’t.”

Suddenly Penelope’s expression turned cold, she took a deep breath in, calming down her nerves, “and all I wanted you to do was to take care of yourself. To show me, that you don’t need my protection anymore.”

Lizzie cleared her throat, trying to stop the two girls from fighting any further, but instead Josie again rose to speak, “and how did you protect me back then? You broke up with me, and as if that wasn’t enough already, you broke my heart over and over again, by giving me no space to breath or to heal, by kissing MG, by trying to drive a wedge between Lizzie and me.”

“I only wanted you to make your own decisions”, Penelope simply responded. Josie was right. Penelope did make Josie’s life a living hell. Breaking up with her was the hardest thing she had ever done. But she had her reasons and it was not like she was happy about her decision either.

The brunette disbelievingly shook her head, a sad smile covering her lips, her gaze lowered to the ground in front of her, “when in reality those were all your decisions, and not mine.” She let out a last breath of disappointment, turning around, her eyes meeting Lizzie’s. She again shook her head, “I hope it was worth it”, she said through clenched teeth, leaving the hallway.

The other three girls were still standing in the hallway, like frozen statues, sadness and shock written all over their faces, glancing in the direction Josie went. Yves was the first one to move, carefully touching Penelope’s shoulder, giving it a light squeeze, “P, are you o-?” Penelope turned around, her eyes closed. She cleared her throat, pulling her arm away a little too rough, “I’m fine”, she hissed, before she again cleared her throat, smoothing out her shirt, repeating the words a little less aggressive, “I’m fine”, and also left the remaining girls standing there. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, have a nice weekend guys!


	14. #14 - Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi y'all! 
> 
> I just wanted to let you know, that I really appreciate all your kind comments! Thank you very much for reading and leaving all those nice words, it means a lot to me. :)

**#14**

It was early in the morning when Penelope left the main building of the Salvatore Boarding School to push her luggage deep into one of the school’s vans. Thick clouds of fog were hanging in the air, like curtains hugging the school, cutting it off from the rest of the world, as if the weather was trying to imitate the mood of the girls resulting from what happened the night before. Lizzie was leaving the building, slowly walking towards the car, still half-asleep, followed by an angry looking Josie, aggressively carrying a suitcase behind her. “What are you doing, Jo?”, Caroline asked, her eyes moving away from the suitcase, looking at Penelope, her brows furrowed.

“I’m coming with you. This is about Lizzie _and_ me. If she can come, I will too”, she answered without looking at her mother, or Penelope. Before Caroline could respond, Hope showed up, also carrying a suitcase. “What is going on here?”, Caroline again asked, her voice carrying a slightly annoyed but at the same time confused tone.

Hope threw her suitcase in the trunk of the car, “I guess you could need all the help you can get. Also no one knows New Orleans as good as I do”, she walked past Caroline, climbing into the backseat of the car. Caroline pinched the bridge of her nose, releasing an annoyed sounding breath, slightly shaking her head, “let’s go then”, she mumbled.

Lizzie was already sitting next to Hope, while Penelope was occupying the front seat next to Caroline. So, Josie sat down next to Yves, but not without expressing her annoyance by rolling her eyes, underlined by releasing a grunting noise.

The first few hours went by quietly. The girls spend their time sleeping, or listening to some music, rather than talking. “So, what’ll happen in New Orleans?”, Penelope asked, pulling her headphones out of her ears. Caroline’s fingers where lightly tapping on the steering wheel to the beat of the song, that was playing on the radio. Her head was almost unnoticeably swinging, and Penelope knew that Caroline was trying to stop herself from singing the lyrics of the song out loud, like she would do under different circumstances, “we’ll meet someone.”

“Someone who knows something about the merge?”, Penelope asked, which immediately brought her everyone’s attention. Caroline glanced in the backseat through the rear-view mirror, noticing that all eyes were on Penelope and her, “yes”.

The car went quiet again, Penelope put back in her headphones, while Caroline again started tapping on the steering wheel, and slightly swinging her head, while she mouthed the lyrics to the song, trying to forget about the subdued mood within the car at least for some time. 

It was almost midnight, when Caroline pulled the car up the parking lot of a motel. The girls were tired, Lizzie wouldn’t stop complaining and Caroline couldn’t take it any longer. She almost ran off the car to get to the reception. When she came back, she was holding two keys in her hand, giving Penelope one of them, “Hope, Yves, and Penelope will stay in one room. Lizzie, Josie and I will take the other one”, she decisively said, leaving no time for any arguments, noticing Josie rolling her eyes while looking at her twin.

When the girls were settled as good as possible, Yves couldn’t stay quiet any longer. She heavily breathed out, catching the other two girl’s attention. She cleared her throat and said, “one question, P. What does an old Asian coven have to do with the Geminis?” Penelope looked up from her book, narrowing her eyebrows, “what do you mean?”

“Well, you said that it was your coven, that cursed the Geminis, but the merge is an ancient curse. Every single record that mentions the Geminis, also mentions the merge, when it comes to their way of choosing a leader. So, I was just wondering why your coven, which is not only an old coven, but also a coven from Asia, would curse them”, Yves explained, her hands softly underlining each word with gentle movements cutting the thickening air in the room. A few seconds passed, before Penelope closed her book, placing it next to her, “actually, it wasn’t my dad’s coven, which is the said Asian coven. It was my mom’s, which cursed the Geminis.”

“And which one is your mom’s coven?”

Again a few seconds passed. Hope’s gaze was jumping back and forth between the two girls. Yves was smart, and since she knew more about coven’s history than anyone else, Penelope knew she could probably help her to find the answers to her own questions, “did you ever read something about the Undine Coven?”, she asked, the look on her face telling Yves that she didn’t know much about it herself.

The red head looked at her with narrowed eyes, curiosity written all over her face, a sparkle lighting up in her eyes, reminding Penelope of a child which was eager to learn something new, something exciting. She shook her head, “not really, but it’s a European coven, isn’t it?” Before the raven-haired girl could answer, Hope brought herself into the conversation, “isn’t your mom’s side of the family from Greece?”

“Indeed. My mom never told us much about them, though. And she never told us anything about her coven”, Penelope said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Why?”

“Because undines were created by dark magic”, Yves mumbled more to herself, before Penelope could even form the words in her head. Penelope again shrugged her shoulders, “I guess that’s one reason.”

A sudden knock against the door pulled all three girls out of their thoughts. Lizzie didn’t wait for any response before opening the door and letting herself in. “What’s wrong?”, she asked, looking into three exhausted faces. Josie silently appeared behind Lizzie, still wearing that annoyed expression on her face.

“Okay, whatever it is, it has to wait”, Lizzie prevented the girls from answering her question, “we need to talk about the ascendant. When are we going to –“, she thought about the right choice of words, “do _it_?”

Penelope’s eyes met Josie’s, only for a second, but still long enough to make Penelope lose her current thought and start thinking about the twin’s birthday a few days back. Josie and Penelope were sitting at the Old Mill, exchanging longing looks, gentle touches, carefully chosen words, and above them an almost full moon was circling in its fixed orbit. So, they missed full moon as an opportunity. And also new moon. And there wouldn’t be any kind of lunar or solar eclipse the next few weeks. “We’ll have to wait for next full moon, I guess”, Penelope said. Lizzie responded with an annoyed grunt, letting herself fall on the bed next to Hope. Their hands touched for the split of a second, before Hope pulled hers away a little too quickly to stay unnoticed by Penelope, who narrowed her eyes while watching her best friend, making a mental note to ask her later about Lizzie.

“So, what were you guys talking about?”, Lizzie asked, rubbing her palms against her thighs, obviously confused by Hope, who brought a little bit more space between herself and Lizzie.

“Did you know about Penelope’s mom and her coven?”, Lizzie asked, when Josie and she were slowly walking back to their room. “No”, Josie said, still angry at her sister. Lizzie stopped walking, taking a deep breath in, “you’re still angry.”

“Obviously”, Josie also stopped walking.

“I get it. We should’ve told you. But she is doing this for you, how can you be angry about it?”, Lizzie released her breath, like she had never been angry without a valid reason before. The brunette looked at her, no readable expression on her face. She just stood there, and Lizzie felt more intimidated by every second that passed.

“I’m not just angry because of her. You didn’t tell me either, Lizzie. I am your sister. This is about me as much as it is about you”, the brunette said. Her sister stepped from one foot to the other, absentmindedly playing with the hem of her shirt, “I’m sorry”, she mumbled, “I know it’s not just about me, but I thought since it is Penelope, you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with it.”

Josie shook her head, a soft smile placed on her lips, “do you really think I would put my issues with Penelope before saving our lives? Also, you don’t even like her, still you chose her over me.”

Lizzie stayed quiet for a moment. Her sister was right, why did she think Josie wouldn’t want to help just because of Penelope? She was trying to find a way to avoid or prevent the merge before Lizzie had even thought about it. And to be fair, Penelope wasn’t _that_ bad, Lizzie thought. She was … okay, and she slowly began to understand, what her sister was seeing in her, why she fell for her all those years ago. But that she wouldn’t admit of course. She simply nodded her head, breathing out, making a pouty face, which could easily compete with that of Josie, “yes, I know. I am sorry, Josie, it was stupid.”

“You were stupid”, Josie grinned, taking a step closer and embracing the blonde in a tight hug. “But seriously though”, Lizzie started, still holding Josie’s hands in hers, “what about Penelope and you?”

A light reddish colour creeped up the brunette’s face, while she awkwardly lowered her gaze to her feet, “there is nothing to talk about. I am with Raf.” But then she thought about the last few days. How she still felt that connection to the other girl, how good Penelope’s skin felt against hers, her smell, the longing looks, the invisible pull, she always felt towards the raven-haired witch. And yes, Penelope did all those things for her, and maybe she had left her all those years ago, just to keep her indirect promise to not just sit around and wait what would happen to Josie, but still she had left. And that was what bothered Josie the most. Four years. Four years without her. Four years not knowing where she was and what she was doing. Four years of feeling a hole inside of her chest, without really knowing why she’d feel that way.

“Maybe there’s a way for you to just be, I don’t know, friends?”, her sister’s voice interrupted her train of thoughts, “without any romantic feelings making everything so complicated.”

The brunette released a heavy breath, gently rubbing her forehead, “I don’t think that this is even possible when it comes to her”, she gave her sister a sad look, pulling up her bottom lip, and Lizzie knew, that she was absolutely right. Penelope and Josie would never be able to just be friends, “maybe you guys are just meant to be”, she tried to cheer up the brunette, but Josie’s eyes were still emitting sadness, along with the realisation that maybe the blonde was right. 

The next day went pretty much the same as the day before. The girls and Caroline left the motel early in the morning, driving mainly in silence. While the others were either sleeping, or listening to music, Penelope was reading one of her books. “How often did you read this one already?”, Caroline asked, watching the younger girl from the corner of her eye. Without looking away from the worn-out pages, Penelope mumbled a short, “it’s still good.”

“What’s it about?”, the blonde asked, for what felt like the thousandth time having this exact same conversation, but Penelope still answered, like she did every time Caroline wanted to know what she was reading about, “it’s about how love doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone.” Her eyes were still following the letters and sentences on the page in front of her when the blonde shot her a short look, “well, that’s probably one of the saddest things I’ve ever heard.”

“But it’s also true”, Penelope’s voice was soft. The blonde nodded in response, thinking about the girl’s words.

Josie had turned down the volume of her music, listening to the exchange happening only a few inches away from her. Based on the way the two women were talking to each other, on the looks they shared and the silent understanding, which was so obviously showing between them, Josie knew that they were even closer than she thought. Their connection was much deeper than that of a girl helping a mother to save her children. It was like Penelope was a third daughter to Caroline, like they would understand each other blindly, like they would have each other’s backs no matter what would happen. Josie couldn’t stop watching her mother and Penelope for the next few hours. How they would sit next to each other in silence, but still knew exactly what the other one needed. When Caroline was hungry, or thirsty and Penelope reached into the bag full of snacks and drinks, without being asked to, how Caroline would turn up the volume of the radio when a song was playing, which Penelope liked. How they would send each other short but warm smiles from time to time. Their small conversations about things, Josie didn’t necessarily understand, simply to the fact that they consisted of memories made by her mother and her ex.

“Creepy”, Lizzie whispered. Josie could feel the redness heating up her cheeks, while she abruptly lowered her gaze, nervously trying to look anywhere but her mom and her ex. “At least you know mom already likes her”, the blonde teased.

Releasing a breath, she said, “it’s crazy how comfortable they seem to be with each other.” Lizzie had also noticed how close the two women seemed to be, how deep their connection probably was, “well, they’ve spend four years with only each other”, she tried to explain what was so obvious to see. 

It was late at night, when the lights of New Orleans finally came in sight. Suddenly everyone was awake and ready to leave the car, to breath fresh air again. Caroline pulled up the car in a parking lot of a motel at the city border, “we’ll stay here for the night”, she explained, her voice sounding tired, dark bags under her eyes.

The twins watched Penelope slowly walking to the trunk of the car, rummaging through the bags and backpacks. When it seemed like she had finally found, what she was looking for, she threw a little white package in Caroline’s direction, who caught it quick as lightning without even looking at Penelope. She observed the blood bag in her hand, realising that she hadn’t fed since they’d arrived in Mystic Falls, sending an appreciative smile towards the raven-haired witch. Josie and Lizzie shared a knowing look, they really did understand each other without even using words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know, how long it will take to upload the next chapter, since I'll be travelling for the next few weeks. Sorry guys!
> 
> Sorry for any mistakes, it's really late where I live and I'm really tired! Anyway, thanks for reading! :)


	15. #15 - Answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola!
> 
> I'm back. Due to the corona situation I had to cancel my travel plans after two weeks and come back to Germany. However, now I have some time to continue this fic.  
Actually, I don't really know if Posie is still a thing, but I hate leaving things unfinished. So here I am. :P
> 
> I hope you guys stay safe and make the best out of the situation. We're all in this together. So, stay at home or at least keep distance to other people, wash your hands, and stay safe and healthy! :-)

**#15**

The night was too short. None of the girls made it past a state of being half asleep, half awake, their heads full of thoughts keeping them from their much needed, proper deep sleep. So, the next morning came quickly. The mood was kind of weird, the car drive too quiet. When they finally arrived somewhere close to the centre of the French Quarter, Penelope couldn’t jump out the car fast enough. Not to know what would happen, drove her crazy. She wouldn’t consider herself as some kind of control freak but being in charge and therefore in control of most situations in her life felt much better than just diving into the unknown. Laying all her trust in Caroline was something she had to get used to over the past few years, but it didn’t make it any easier. The blonde was throwing a worried look at her, for the umpteenth time and Penelope simply answered with shrugging her shoulders, expressing that it was okay, that she was okay. Caroline didn’t say anything, she just turned around, and started walking towards something that looked like an old factory building. And Penelope did the same. She quietly followed the vampire, her questioning thoughts hanging above her head like a cloud, almost visible for everyone else.

The constant weird-looking and seemingly tensed up exchanges between her mother and her ex didn’t stay unnoticed by Josie, so she quickly walked past the other girls, catching up with Caroline. “Is everything okay?”, she worryingly asked. Penelope and Caroline obviously shared a strong bond with each other, and even though Josie tried to think about it as a good thing, deep down she constantly felt an all too well-known jealousy rising. Not just because Penelope had spent a lot more time with Caroline over the last four years, obviously knew about her needs, and probably also her darkest secrets, at least that’s what Josie thought, but also because it was the same the other way around. Caroline seemed to know Penelope much better, than Josie ever did. The past few days had not only shown her, that she needed to spend more time with her mother and to strengthen their own bond, but that Penelope wasn’t the same anymore. She was still Penelope, still the dorky girl with the smug smile, and from time to time it still felt like nothing had ever changed, like they were still the teenage girls, they once were but there was something different about her now. She was broody, her eyes often would kind of look through people and sometimes Josie would recognise something dark within them. Not the kind of darkness that would cause pain and chaos, but the sad kind of darkness, the broken-hearted kind.

Caroline simply nodded in response, too tensed up for Josie to believe her. So, they quietly entered the building followed by the other girls. The first thing Josie noticed was how huge the place was. Light was shining through the large windows, creating a warm atmosphere. There were plants and herbs in clay-coloured pots everywhere. Penelope could probably name all of them, Josie thought, quickly glancing at the raven-haired witch, who she was walking next to way too close. Her hand would constantly touch the other girl’s, who didn’t seem to be bothered by it. It was as if an invisible string kept pulling them closer to each other whenever they were be in the same room. Like Josie simply couldn’t stay away from the other girl, no matter how much she tried to convince herself that she wanted to.

When her hand touched Penelope’s for what felt like the hundredth time within the few minutes since they had entered the building, Penelope moved a few feet away from her, her eyes also scanning the place, her hand absentmindedly stroking the green leaves in front of her.

Josie started scanning the rest of the room, her hand immediately missing the soft touch of Penelope’s, when she suddenly noticed the person standing between all those plants, which brought long forgotten memories back into her mind. She narrowed her eyes, taking a closer look. Raven-coloured hair, green eyes, full lips, a nearly perfect bone structure. She exactly looked like Penelope, except that she probably was a little older. She shot a glance at the other girls, trying to figure out if they were as confused as she was. Hope’s eyes were attentive as well, trying to take in every little detail of the girl. Exposed by the slight smirk on her lips, Josie assumed that she already knew who she was. Caroline was already talking to her, giving her a tight hug and in the corner of her eye, Josie saw a hesitant Penelope walking up to the two talking women. Her eyes were opened wide. In shock? Surprise? Josie couldn’t really tell.

When Penelope finally reached Caroline and the girl, giving her a tight hug, a hug like her life was depending on it, Josie finally remembered. Helena Park. Penelope’s older sister. She didn’t talk about her very often, but the few times she actually did, were enough for Josie to connect the dots now.

Hope also walked towards them, giving her a short hug, not even close to that one of the two sisters. Yes, and also that Josie remembered. Hope knew all of Penelope’s family members. They were best friends for the most part of their lives. And again, jealousy hit her out of nowhere. Also too well known, when it came to Hope and Penelope. “So, there are two Penelope’s now. Perfect”, Lizzie mumbled, her voice sounding annoyed. And as if Penelope was reading their minds, she suddenly turned around, “that’s my sister. Helena”, still looking confused herself.

“What are you doing here? What is this?”, she asked, looking back and forth between Caroline and her sister, “and why didn’t you tell me, Care?”. Confusion was still written all over her face and for a second her eyes met Josie’s. Silently exposing her insecurity, silently asking for help.

“I wanted it to be a surprise, I guess”, Caroline hesitantly answered, uncertain why she ever thought about it as a good idea. Josie didn’t know much about Penelope’s family, since she would never talk much about them, but she knew that the relationship between the two sisters wasn’t always the best. The younger witch awkwardly smiled, “well, it surely is.” 

A few hours later the girls knew that Helena was in New Orleans because of a job, she was doing for her mother. However, she didn’t tell them, what the job was, or what it was about, simply that it was something in the name of the Park family, which was apparently a well-known family. Penelope simply shrugged her shoulders, when Josie’s gaze hit her.

“Why are you actually here?”, Penelope asked her sister with a lowered voice, when the other girls were out of sight. “Still not easy to be fooled, are you?“, Helena smirked. The younger witch sighed, “seriously, Hel. What is this about?” Helena stopped walking, observing her sister from head to toe, “you know how this year it’s our family’s turn to host the annual witch’s sabbath, don’t you? I’m here to invite the oldest and most powerful families of New Orleans”, she cleared her throat, ”and mom told me to bring you back home.”

“Home? I just came here”, Penelope started but Helena immediately interrupted her, speaking through clenched teeth, pulling her sister a little bit closer, “Yes and you definitely won’t find the answers to your questions about the merge here.” Penelope narrowed her eyes, “and what do _you_ know about it?”

“Probably more than Caroline and you combined.”

Before Penelope could shoot all her questions at her sister, Caroline and Josie appeared right next to them. “Are you guys ready?”, Caroline asked.

“Ready for what?”, Penelope’s voice was a little harsher than the intended it to be. Josie gave her a weird look, “getting something to eat.”

The restaurant Hope had led them to was not too far away. It was cosy and warm. Their table was placed in one corner of the room and provided enough privacy to also talk about more serious things. While the other girls were lightly chatting about everything and anything, Penelope was thinking about her sister’s words. She absentmindedly picked at her food, her eyes meeting those of her sister. “What did you mean by that I won’t find my answers here?”, she interrupted the ongoing conversation. It went quiet and all eyes were directed at her and Helena, who was staring at her with narrowed eyes, a slight smirk covering her lips.

“Do you really want to talk about that now?”, she nodded in the direction of the other girls, making sure that Penelope knew she was about to reach a point of no return. For a second the younger witch lowered her gaze, releasing a long breath, “yes.”

Helena continued staring at her, giving her one last chance to keep the conversation light and casual, but Penelope simply kept her straight face. Helena looked into her sister’s eyes, which were so similar to her own, before she slowly observed the confused looking faces around the table.

“The merge was imposed on the Gemini Coven by our coven. A long time before the United States were even discovered by the Europeans. So, how would you find any answers here?”, and what almost looked like a derogatory smile to everyone else around the table just earned even more confusion.

“But what do you know about the merge?”, Penelope kept staring at her sister.

“Well, the reason, why the Geminis got cursed for instance.”

The sisters were still staring at each other, one smiling, the other one with narrowed eyes, but both girls looked as if they weren’t breathing. It was the noise of Lizzie’s fork hitting the plate that brought them back from their silent contest, “what?”. 


	16. #16 - Origin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new chapter! I'm really using the time in quarantine ... being productive and stuff. :P
> 
> I really wanted to thank you guys for all the nice comments. I really appreciate all of them.   
Okay, so apparently Posie is still a thing. I was just wondering because on twitter suddenly many people started to unstan and instead switched to ship hosie? I am not sure, I'm just using twitter to stalk people. :P 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys like the new chapter. It's a lot and I really tried to work everything out so that it fits the story. :)

**#16**

_It’s dark. Too dark. It’s like Josie’s vision is blurry, like her eyes aren’t working like they’re supposed to do. Like the floor, the walls, the whole building is moving. She tries to walk a few steps, but she needs to stop every now and then. Needs to push her whole body against the walls of the hallway she’s standing in. Where is she? She tries to adjust her eyes to the darkness, which is surrounding her still. It’s like it’s getting even darker, like the darkness is trying to take her in, to make Josie part of it. _

_Suddenly, she hears this voice. A female voice. Is she singing a song? Whose voice is this? What is happening? It’s like the voice is pulling her closer. Her feet start moving without her noticing, she walks with firm steps, closer, closer, closer to that voice. Salvatore Boarding School. That’s where she is. She knows these hallways better than anyone else. And she also recognizes the door she’s standing in front now. How many times did she enter it in the middle of the night? Long nights, good nights, nights she once couldn’t wait for, nights, burned deep into her memory. _

_She slowly opens the door, curious where this voice is coming from. Her eyes need to adjust to the light of a burning candle, it takes them a few seconds, but her vision gets better eventually. She let’s her gaze roam around the all too well-known room, and there is Penelope. Sitting on her bed, singing a beautiful song without using any words. Just a melody, the most beautiful Josie’s ever heard. But no, there are words. A language Josie doesn’t understand. And Penelope is brushing her hair, her long hair. She slowly turns her head, she looks at Josie but at the same time she’s looking through her. Her eyes are looking empty. She doesn’t stop singing that song, which seems to pull Josie even closer. _

_All the sudden, Penelope’s hair is a lot shorter. She is pulling the brush through her short hair, and further down, where her hair once was but only air is left now. “Why do you always hurt the ones you love, Jojo?”, her voice sounds so far away. But Josie is standing right in front of her, almost close enough to touch the soft skin of Penelope’s face._

_The words are stuck in her throat. She knows the answer to Penelope’s question, it’s stuck in her head since … well, … ever. ‘Have you ever loved someone so much, you wanna possess them? And if you can’t possess them, you wanna … destroy them, so that no one else will ever possess them?’, but the words don’t come out. It’s like Josie is unable to speak. Like she’s only here to listen to the melody, which is now also stuck in her head. And deep down she knows that Penelope was always hers, that she always would be hers, as long as life was pulling their strings. _

Suddenly, she was wide awake. It was quiet around her, but the darkness was gone. The car was still driving. _So, it was just a dream_, she thought. Still being confused, she let her gaze roam around the car. There was Lizzie, her mom, Yves, Hope, there was Helena Park, and Penelope. Penelope, sitting next to Caroline, staring out her window. How did she fall asleep? She usually doesn’t during car rides. They would always make her feel sick, like she had to throw up, and often enough she did. Her eyes were still directed at Penelope. Penelope. _Not during car rides with Penelope_, she thought.

Helena Park was living outside the city. So, it took them about 45 minutes before they finally jumped out the car. Josie took a deep breath in, feeling a little dizzy. “You okay?”, Hope asked, suddenly standing next to her. She carefully placed her fingers around Josie’s elbow to help her stabilizing her stand. The brunette slowly nodded, releasing a shaky breath, “car rides”, she smiled, knowing that Hope would understand.

“Just make yourself at home”, Helena said, casually throwing her keys in a bowl next to the door. She had told them that she was staying at a house of a family friend and said house was huge. They would all sleep in their own rooms that night, nobody needed to share it. Josie slowly started following Helena into the large living room, letting her eyes take in everything she walked by. “Wow”, she whispered, impressed by the paintings covering the walls of the hallway. “Impressive, isn’t it?”, Penelope said, standing next to her, also observing the painting Josie was standing in front.

“You never told me that you’re rich.”

“You never asked, and it was never really important to me”, the raven-haired girl shrugged her shoulders. Her eyes were still observing the painting, before she slowly turned around, following the other girls. She sat next to Hope, who immediately noticed how tensed up the other girl was. She took Penelope’s hand in her own, letting her know that whatever would happen in the next minutes, or hours, or however long it would take, she would always have her back. Penelope gave her an uncertain smile, appreciating the support of her friend, while the air in the huge room was getting thicker with every passing minute. She looked at her sister, who was already scrutinizing her, something unreadable in her eyes. With a small nod Penelope indicated that it was time, so Helena sat down in front of the other girls, who immediately stopped talking.

Helena released a heavy breath. “So, …”, she hesitantly started. With every passing minute Penelope became more restless. She could feel her rising heartbeat, how her hands began to sweat, so that she had to pull her hand out of Hope’s, how the nervousness grew and grew to a point where it was almost unbearable.

“Helena, please. Just tell me … us”, she started chewing on her bottom lip.

Another breath audibly left her sister’s throat, “you know how mom and dad always talked about our Asian heritage, but mom actually isn’t even from Asia?” Before Penelope could answer, Helena already continued, “well, mom’s coven is called the Undine Coven.”

“Yes, I know. Caroline and I found some old documents about mom’s side of the family back home”, Penelope explained.

“What’s an Undine?”, Lizzie interrupted.

“Undines are very old nymphs, water spirits to be precise. They are creatures without a soul”, Helena answered.

“And how is this important for our merge problem?”, Lizzie’s voice sounded impatient. Helena smiled, ready to reveal any secret she had to in order to explain the merge’s origin, “an Undine will only get a soul when it marries a human being. They are actually similar to sirens, but not as evil. Undines don’t feed on humans. They’re only guided by the desire for redemption and to achieve it they cast a spell on humans by singing the most beautiful songs with the most beautiful voices. It is said that their intentions are never evil, unless they are cheated on by their chosen partner”, Helena’s voice was calm, soft, teacher-like. A soft confident smile was playing around her lips, “and that is kind of what led to the curse actually”, a dramatic pause, “the human partner of one of the first Undines, who was by chance a member of the Gemini Coven, cheated on her a few years after they got married. And usually undines tend to kill cheating partners, but this one didn’t.”

“She cursed him”, Yves whispered. Penelope shot a glance at her. There was something in her eyes, a spark, no more of a fire. This was not only a girl telling some other girls a dramatic story about something that happened in the past, no, this was kind of what she was here for, what she was living for. Learning everything about the world’s oldest covens. A smirk was covering her lips, she even slid a few inches closer to the edge of her chair, as if Helena’s knowledge would somehow diffuse into her the closer she got.

“Not only him, but all Geminis. She was angry and hurt. For her it wasn’t just a stupid betrayal. You have to know that when an Undine choses someone to be their partner, it’s forever. There is no way out of it, at least not alive. And unfortunately, the Gemini man got the other woman pregnant. With Twins. Gemini twins. And I don’t need to tell you guys what a role Gemini twins play for their coven”, she stopped. Her gaze roamed around the room, she was making sure that everyone was listening, that they were understanding and taking in all the information she provided.

“They were supposed to be the future leaders of the Gemini Coven, because back then it wasn’t just one leader. The twins would always lead the coven together. But to kill the man or his children was … well, too easy, so the Undine cursed the twins. And because it wasn’t enough to just punish the man and his family, the Undine cursed all future generations of Gemini twins to be destined to kill each other. That only the stronger twin would survive to live with the pain and the guilt of killing the other one.”

It was quiet. A beat passed and nobody dared to talk. Everyone was just looking at Helena, who nervously clapped her hands. Another few seconds passed and still nobody dared to even breath loud enough for anyone to hear it, when Yves cleared her throat. _Only the notebook is missing in her hands_, Penelope thought, remembering how Yves would always take eager notes during lectures, “why are some Geminis siphoners?”

Helena narrowed her eyes, throwing a questioning look at Penelope, who just shrugged her shoulders, “well, I don’t know. I’m not a Gemini expert to be honest.”

Yves pulled up her bottom lip, almost looking like she was sulking. But before anyone could say anything, she continued, “so, you guys are what … half Undine?”

“Did you ever hear Penelope sing?”, Helena immediately replied, smirking. Yves shook her head no, but Hope and Josie both said, “I did”, giving each other a weird look. Helena’s smirk grew wider, “and was it like you couldn’t stop listening? Like you were pulled closer to her, like it was the only thing you ever needed to hear?”

Josie immediately remembered her dream from earlier that day. It was exactly like Helena had explained. She tried to remember all the times Penelope would sing back when they were students at Salvatore. She sometimes would just absentmindedly mutter the lyrics of her favorite songs, when she thought nobody was listening. And even then, it was like Josie couldn’t stop listening to her. In the corner of her eye she saw Hope nodding. She had similar memories of Penelope muttering songs whenever she thought that she was alone.

“There you have your answer. And, well, there also is this affinity to water”, she again shrugged. And a million memories of Penelope using spells connected to water crossed the girls mind. Josie lowered her gaze to the bracelet around her wrist._ ‘__And when all magic is gone, you just need to add a drop of water and it will regain the magic’_, Penelope had told her when she closed the clasp with gentle movements. Suddenly, it was a lot harder to breath. Like a million pieces of broken glass were fighting their way through her lungs. This was all too much. Too much for her to take. This shouldn’t be about Penelope, or Undines, or water spells. It should be about the merge and how they could stop it, using their new achieved knowledge about its origin.

“Lizzie?”, she heard her mother’s voice, when her sister half-jumped off the sofa, running out of the room. Caroline immediately followed, so she also jumped off the sofa running after her while Penelope continued staring at her sister, “why did mom never tell me?”

Helena eyed her sister’s face with a sad expression. Penelope could see how she was trying to find the right words. “I guess, she didn’t think it was important. And when it suddenly was, because you and Caroline where looking for a loophole, she was … afraid?”

“Of what?”, her voice was shaking. She had to push back all the feelings which were suddenly trying to take control over her body.

“Of you being not ready to take it!”

Silence. Penelope’s expression was cold, calculating, concentrated. Four years ago, she moved to Belgium with her mother. She decided to help Caroline. She told her mom about Josie, a girl she fell in love with at Salvatore, a girl she broke up with, because she was not able to love herself. The merge, her plan of helping Josie’s mother with finding a loophole, because after all every curse has a loophole. She had noticed the change in her mother’s posture whenever she was talking about it, about the merge, about how Caroline and she were moving in circles, how they were finding hints, leading to more hints, eventually leading into dead ends. But she never thought about her knowing more about the merge then what the young witch had told her. She was just worried, worried about her daughter putting herself in danger over and over again because of … well, a girl she didn’t even know yet. No, she did know. What the merge was, why it was. She could feel a rush of anger growing in her chest, “how can we stop it?”

“The merge? I don’t know”, her sister’s voice was careful, quiet. The confident smile was gone, her expression was serious now. She nervously rubbed her palms against her thighs.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”, Penelope said through clenched teeth. She could feel her anger moving through her body, it was radiating from her chest, eating its way through her veins, as if a million needles were piercing her skin. It was hard to breath, she felt like someone was constantly tightening her throat so that it was almost impossible for any air to pass. Frustration and anger were combining themselves into a lump to big to even fit into her throat. She tried to swallow the lump, to breath normally. This was not the time for her to show any signs of weakness. She needed to keep a clear head, even if Helena didn’t know how to stop it, they were at least one hundred steps closer to finding the loophole they were looking for.

Helena again narrowed her eyes, her expression was still serious, she eyed her sister, tried to figure out what she was thinking, “Pen, I really don’t know how to stop it.” Her voice was loud and clear, somehow still calm, making Penelope believe every word she said. She didn’t know. Helena didn’t know. But that wasn’t all, there was more to those simple words. Helena and Penelope always had their own way of communicating. Not particularly with words, but with movements, looks, expressions, their eyes and bodies. For Hope and Yves, it simply sounded like Helena just didn’t know, no more and no less, but for Penelope it was more, it was a promise. A promise, that Helena wouldn’t leave them alone, that she was ready to help, that she understood how much Josie meant to her, how much Caroline meant to her, and how much even Lizzie meant to her.

A few hours had passed, Lizzie was still locked up in her room, Josie trying to calm her down while Penelope was pacing up and down the library, which was huge, but still not comparable to that of Salvatore or their school in Belgium.. “Maybe my mom knows how to stop it”, she mumbled. Her back was turned to Yves, while she moved towards one of the shelves. She gently moved her fingers across the backs of the books buried under a thick layer of dust, before she released a frustrated groan, smashing her palms against the wooden surface of the shelf. So she stood there like a statue, letting a few minutes fly by, “or maybe she doesn’t. She wouldn’t even tell me about the origin of the merge, about my own heritage”, she said with a snide voice. Caroline cleared her throat, causing Penelope to turn around.

“Are you okay?”, there was this motherly voice Penelope always appreciated without showing it. Caroline walked towards her, already opening her arms to grab Penelope by her shoulders, forcing her into a much-needed hug, “that was a lot today”. The younger girl buried her face into blonde locks, her arms were wrapped tightly around Caroline’s mid, her fingers were pressed against the vampire’s back, the knuckles turning white. 

“We need to go back”, Penelope mumbled against Caroline’s skin, causing the older woman to slightly push her back so that she was able to look at Penelope’s face. She pulled up her bottom lip, looking at the girl in front of her with worried eyes, “we should talk about that tomorrow. A lot has happened today. We could all use a little sleep.” Penelope suddenly broke away from the embrace. She walked two steps back, “I’m okay, Caroline”, her voice was harsh. The blonde looked at her, her head tilted, one brow raised, “you’re not. And that’s okay. Even if you were, some of the other girls aren’t. We’re not alone in this anymore.”, Caroline’s voice was still motherly, but in a totally different way, “we’re going to discuss the next steps tomorrow when everyone else is ready to do so.”

It was late when Josie heard someone knocking at her door. “Come in”, she said while she was lifting the blanket of her bed, ready to get some sleep.

“Hi Jojo.” Josie didn’t turn around. She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes, while goosebumps spread all over her neck and shoulders. Caused by only Penelope’s voice, which was soft, somehow cautious, like a long-forgotten song that Josie now took note of for the first time since Penelope was back. She could feel Penelope coming closer, but not too close, not close enough. She opened her eyes, released her breath, she couldn’t turn around. She could feel Penelope’s eyes burning holes into her back and turning around would mean to look at her, to see her face, the apologetic expression, the endless sadness she was trying so hard to hide.

“What do you want?”, she asked instead, slightly shaking her head. She needed to get rid of those thoughts. Thoughts about Penelope’s eyes, her skin, her lips, how they would feel on her own lips. What did this dream do to her?

She could hear Penelope clearing her throat, “I – uhm”, she stopped, was she nervous? “I just wanted to make sure you were okay”, why was her voice so soft? How was she supposed to stay mad at her, to ignore her, to punish her for not telling her about their plans?

“And I brought you some tea.”

How did Penelope still know about what Josie needed without Josie knowing it herself? After all those years it still seemed to be so simple for her to read her mind.

“I’m fine”, was all she could answer, “you can put the tea on the table”, her back was still turned to Penelope. A few seconds passed, then she heard Penelope putting the cup on the table. Only a few more seconds, before she would leave the room, but then she asked, “how’s Lizzie doing?” Josie couldn’t prevent the grunting sound from escaping her throat. She pinched the bridge of her nose, “I thought you two were friends now, so why don’t you go and ask her yourself?” 

She slightly turned her head, hoping to get a glimpse of the raven-haired girl from the corner of her eye. Penelope was still standing in her room, but closer to the door now, she nervously rubbed her palms against each other, before she let out an exhausted sounding exhale, “I am sorry, Josie.”

Goosebumps. Josie needed to stay strong, she couldn’t just forgive her now, not after everything that happened. And what was she apologizing for anyway? There were a million reasons for her to apologize. But it was like she forgot about them all at once the moment Penelope started speaking again, “I just wanted to let you know that I am really sorry.”

Leaving her, keeping secrets from her, teaming up with Lizzie behind her back, the merge. It had to be the merge, right? “It’s not your fault my ancestor was a cheater”, Josie said. She immediately squinched her eyes shut, why would Penelope apologize for the merge? The other girl’s silence encouraged Josie’s last thought, she was obviously confused. Finally, Josie turned around and indeed, Penelope was watching her with narrowed, questioning eyes. She visibly swallowed, “well, that wasn’t what I meant, but I guess I am sorry for that, too”, she said before she started chewing on her cheek, “I’m sorry for not telling you about our plans.”

Why did she turn around? Looking at Penelope has always somehow elicited a weird feeling of weakness in Josie. It was like all her anger was vanishing as soon as she took in the other girl’s features. It was something about the way she was standing, the radiating confidence, even if she looked like a kicked puppy. Her eyes, definitely her eyes. The lips, the softness in her features. Josie lowered her gaze to the floor. _Yes, that’s better_, she thought. She crossed her arms, still not looking at the raven-haired girl, “I’m tired. Good night Penelope.”

When Penelope started shifting her weight from one foot onto the other, Josie looked up again. Penelope wasn’t looking at her, but her expression was sad, disappointed, broken-hearted somehow. She bit her bottom lip, giving Josie a sad smile, before she turned around, mumbling a short ‘good night, Josie’, while she walked out the door.

While releasing a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding, she walked to the table with the cup of tea. She could already smell what kind of tea it was, before she had even reached the beverage. It was her favorite. She again turned her head, looking at the door, were a few minutes ago Penelope was standing.

She was laying on her bed with closed eyes when Hope knocked on her door. She opened it without waiting for Penelope to ask her in. The raven-haired girl didn’t move, while Hope climbed into the bed next to her, covering her legs with the blanket.

“I was wondering when you would show up”, Penelope opened her eyes. She turned her head, looking directly at Hope, giving her a smug smirk, “what took you so long?”

Hope started shifting her body, making herself comfortable. She moved closer to the other girl, laying her head on Penelope’s shoulder, “I checked on Lizzie.”

“You and Lizzie, huh?”

Hope stayed quiet. Just when Penelope wanted to tell her that her question was more of a joke, she replied, “a lot has happened after you left.” So, she was right all along, there was indeed something between her friend and Lizzie. She placed her arm around Hope, absentmindedly pulling her closer and started drawing circles on her skin, “what happened?”

The only thing breaking through the silence in the room was Hope wrapping her arm around Penelope’s middle. The shifting blanket, fabric rubbing against skin. Something Penelope had forgotten about, the feeling of being safe, feeling like being at home, something feeling so natural, so right. Out of habit she pressed a short kiss against the ginger hair beneath her chin and the other girl released a soft breath.

“Nothing that can’t be fixed”, she mumbled, before both girls fell into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean .. what can I say ... I still love Henelope. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! <3
> 
> Sorry for any mistakes. :)


	17. #17 - Playing with the Ravens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a filler, but enjoy! :)

**#17**

It was early in the morning when the incoming light hit her face. Penelope released a grunting sound, before she turned around in her bed, trying to get away from the invading brightness of the commencing day. She opened one eye, inspecting the empty spot next to her. Sure, Hope was basically the definition of an early bird, so she already had left.

Penelope again turned around and the light immediately made her squint. Laying on her back, arms and legs stretched out, she reviewed the last day. The merge and everything that had happened wasn’t her fault, and even though she knew it, she somehow felt guilty about it. She released a heavy breath, before she rolled out of bed, slowly getting ready for the day.

When she walked out the backdoor of the house and into the large garden, she could already hear her sister’s voice. “Still playing with the ravens, I see”, she smirked, holding out her arm for one of the birds to sit on it. Helena didn’t stop feeding the other two ravens with some sort of seeds, when she answered, “don't forget that they came in handy whenever you got yourself in trouble.” Both sisters shared a smile, when Yves suddenly appeared behind them, “how did they came in handy?”

For a second the younger sister was startled, abruptly turning around, causing the raven that was sitting on her arm to release an annoyed scream before it flew to Helena, who couldn’t hold back the chuckle, “her lurking skills are even better than yours”, which earned an irritated glance of her sister.

“She sometimes uses them as her eyes. She basically used to stalk me”, Penelope rolled her eyes, answering Yves question. And there it was again, that expression on Yves’ face, full of excitement and curiosity, that sparkling in her eyes, which Penelope had never seen in anyone else’s eyes. Yves pulled her fists closer to her face, covering her smile, “that is”, she stopped, her eyes opened wide, “amazing!”

And indeed, it was. Helena Park was amazing. She was smart and inventive. Spells, learned at school or taught by their parents and older witches had never been enough for her. She experimented with different spells, tried to find new ways of making things work, which simply didn’t with the known spells. Something Penelope had always admired about her was her perseverance and her creative way of thinking sometimes. But it was also kind of annoying. How their parents were always carrying Helena on their hands, while at the same time they underestimated Penelope's strength and her skills. When their dad died it only got worse and her mother made short work of sending her to Salvatore, while Helena was still living at home with her. So, Penelope gave her best. In everything which would make her a better witch. She became one of the best students Salvatore had ever seen, her knowledge was diversified and deep in most classes and sometimes even far more than what was required. But still she felt like Helena was her mother’s favorite, which made it much easier to one day just pack her things and move to Caroline.

Penelope rolled her eyes and started walking back to the house, followed by her sister, who started explaining Yves how she had spelled her ravens. When they entered the house, they were welcomed by a smell of blueberry pancakes, Penelope’s favorites. The three girls made their way into the kitchen, where the twins were preparing breakfast for everyone while Caroline was speaking to Alaric on the phone. Only Hope was missing.

“That smells really good”, Yves said, letting herself fall onto one of the chairs. Penelope and Helena did the same, waiting for the twins to finish cooking. After everyone started eating, Hope entered the kitchen. Her breathing was heavy, small drops of sweat were running down her face and neck. She stepped behind Penelope’s chair, softly squeezing her shoulders, “I hope I didn’t wake you this morning but I kind of felt like going for a run.” Her mouth full of pancake, Penelope shook her head, “no, it’s fine, you didn’t.”

The raven-haired witch gave Hope a short smile, while she sat down next to Lizzie, who wrinkled her nose, “would you mind taking a shower first?”

While Josie at the same time cleared her throat before she mumbled, “you slept in Penelope’s room?” trying to suppress her creeping blush.

Helena leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms in front of her chest, an amused smile on her lips. She let her eyes jump back and forth between her sister, Hope and Josie. And while Penelope and Hope were exchanging short glances, Penelope wordlessly asking ‘really?’ and Hope responding a ‘sorry’, Josie just glared back at her plate, the grip of her hand around the fork tightening, so that her knuckles turned white. 

The following conversations were kept light and easy. Yves continued asking Helena about her ravens and other spells, while the other girls took turn listening to Helena’s explanations and chatting with each other. Caroline was the only person who didn’t speak, nor listened, just sitting there, her eyes directed at her daughters like she was trying to burn holes into their skin.

“Are you okay?”, Penelope said under her breath knowing well enough, that the blonde was even more alert since her daughters had joined them, never disregarding her vampire hearing. Caroline tightened her jaw, her eyes flickered to Penelope for the split of a second, letting her know that she had heard her whisper. Without answering her question, she loudly cleared her throat, stopping the ongoing conversations in doing so.

“Are you okay, mom?”, Josie hesitantly asked, a worried expression on her face.

“I’m fine”, Caroline started, “but we need to talk about our next steps.”

The girls stayed quiet and it felt like suddenly the light atmosphere within the kitchen was replaced by a heavier one. Outside a cloud moved in front of the sun, preventing its sun rays from entering the room through the large windows, emphasizing the darkening atmosphere even more. Penelope got ready to say something, but Caroline stopped her by slightly lifting her hand off the table and instead speaking up herself, “Yves, Penelope and I will return to Belgium. I guess Helena will join us –“, but before she could finish her sentence, Lizzie interrupted her.

“Penelope and you … what about us?”

A heavy breath left Caroline’s throat, “that’s up to you. You can either join us or return to Salvatore.”

Lizzie leaned back into the back of her chair, visibly relieved, a smirk creeping its way onto her lips.

“I just need to know how many of you are coming to Belgium”, Helena said.

“Why?”

Helena smiled at Josie, “to let my mom know how many more guests she needs to include in her Sabbath planning.”

“Oh”, was all Josie was replying.

Of course, none of the girls wanted to return to Salvatore. Which wasn’t really a surprise, so Caroline ordered them to get ready as soon as possible, so that they could catch the first flight back to Europe. The girls were fast, all ready to leave after only half an hour. They sloppily tossed their luggage into the trunk of Caroline’s car, before they climbed into it.

“So, Penelope”, Lizzie’s voice chimed through the car, “what exactly is this sabbath about?”

The raven-haired witch exchanged a look with her sister, a cheeky grin forming on her lips, “well Lizzie, it’s actually all about dancing around a large fire, flying on broomsticks, and making babies the whole night.”

When Josie almost choked on the water, she was trying to swallow the moment Penelope finished answering, the Park sisters broke into loud laughter. Lizzie lightly tapped her sister’s back, who was still coughing when Penelope said, “just kidding. It’s an annual gala to celebrate the oldest, most influential, most powerful covens, there will be tons of food and alcohol, music, a large fire. Rituals to strengthen the witchcraft will be held, stuff like that.”

When she tried to think about the actual reason of the sabbath she remembered. Not only was it to celebrate the ‘pure blood and the purity of the covens’ like her mother used to call it, but the beginning of summer. Which meant full moon. The first full moon of summer, a really powerful full moon. Perfect for their plans to enter Kai’s prison world. But she couldn’t talk about that now. Caroline was smart enough to understand what she was referring to and she couldn’t be incautious like that. And she couldn’t talk about the ‘pure blood’ part as well, knowing that neither the twin’s blood, nor Hope’s were fitting into the coven’s definition of ‘pure’.

She shot a glance at her sister, inaudibly telling her to not say anything about those things and Helena gave her a slight nod.

A smile curled Lizzie’s lips, “sounds like a party”, she said, while Josie just narrowed her eyes.

It was late when they reached the airport. Cold air was playing around their faces when they carried the suitcases and travel bags into the glass building. After checking in and passing the security check, the girls started spreading across the duty-free shops. Caroline sat down at a bar, ordering a drink, when Penelope caught sight of her. She excused herself, leaving her sister and Yves at one of the shops. She slowly approached the vampire, well aware that she would sense her coming closer anyway.

“I’m okay, Pen”, Caroline said without turning around to look at the witch before she took a sip of her drink. Penelope sat down on the stool next to her, not looking at her, but straight ahead, her hands folded placed on the countertop. She let the silence settle in for a few passing minutes, before she said, “you’re not. And that’s okay.”

Caroline tried to hide her smile by taking another sip of her drink, “I’m just exhausted, you know? I mean, I’m happy, we finally have something that could lead to the loophole we’re looking for, but now it’s not just you and me I have to look out for.” A sigh of worry left her lips, while Penelope wrinkled her nose, emphasized by a snorting sound, “you don’t need to look out for me, please.”

The blonde gave her a skeptical look. She shook her head in disbelieve, now wearing an amused grin on her lips, “you’re kidding, right? You are the worst when it comes to protecting yourself and taking care of you.”

“What?”, Penelope shockingly exclaimed, “I just like a challenge sometimes.”

“Oh, is that why one of the French witches almost killed you when you were trying to get information out of her?”

Penelope started laughing. She remembered it as if it happened yesterday. She was young and naïve, clueless, impetuous, reckless. It happened a few weeks after she had found Caroline and convinced her, that she could help finding the loophole. And said French witch was much older, much wiser, and certainly a lot stronger, than Penelope was. The witches’ name fell during a conversation Penelope had overheard and she was too eager to listen properly, so she missed the end of the conversation, and therefore the information that the witch actually didn’t know anything concerning the merge, or even the Gemini Coven for that matter. And Penelope could be annoying as hell. When the witch got tired of Penelope’s constant questions and threats, she decided that Penelope needed to learn her lesson. And when Penelope was even too stubborn to admit her mistake then, the witch simply tried to turn Penelope’s own threats into reality. Her laughter died down at the thought of how Caroline actually needed to save her from probably getting killed. She sighed, for the first time looking at the blonde, “you’re probably right, though”, she admitted, giving her a genuine smile.

Before the silence could again settle between them, Penelope took Caroline’s hand. Something that was usually the other way around. She let out a hesitant breath, “please don’t stop talking to me about those things, Care.”

Penelope’s voice was carrying a vulnerability which reminded Caroline of a child that was deeply scared of something. She eyed Penelope’s face, which looked exhausted. She was giving more than she should, more than what was good for her, and Caroline was never more aware of it than right in that moment. She squeezed the girl’s hand, pulled her closer, so that Penelope needed to stand up from her stool and forced her into a tight hug.

“Thank you, Penelope”, she whispered into her ear. And she meant so much more than that. During the past four years Penelope had become family, she was like her rock, like the only real friend she had. Sure, there was Alaric, who tried to help with the merge in every way possible, there were Elena, Damon, and Bonnie, who would also help from time to time, but Penelope was different. She was there 24/7, she was the one closest to Caroline, she was the person who was actually risking her life for her daughters and therefore also for her in some kind of way. But it wasn’t just that, Caroline considered her a real friend, maybe her most important friend at that time. Penelope Park was special, and she knew that her words would never be enough to express how grateful she actually was.

Penelope wrapped her arms around the blonde’s mid, hugging her tightly, and like that they remained for the next few minutes, trying to express what words couldn’t do.

When the plane landed in Belgium Josie was nervous. She would finally get to see where her mother and her ex were spending most of their time the last four years. And maybe she was naïve, thinking the air would smell like Belgium waffles and chocolate, when in reality the air smelled exactly like home. She remembered how disappointed she was when Lizzie and she visited Caroline in France and the air did not smell like croissants and expensive cheese. But somethings would never change and so she felt a slight disappointment spreading through her stomach.

They were welcomed by two black cars, when the group left the building. Two drivers dressed in black suits started loading their luggage into the trunks.

“Welcome home, Miss Park”, one of them said, while he opened the back door for Helena before he nodded at Penelope, “Miss Park.” Lizzie’s jaw dropped, watching the Park sisters, Hope, and Yves climbing into one car. “So, Penelope is rich rich”, she whispered only for Josie to hear, “why did you never tell me?”

Josie shook her head, also being taken aback by how rich the Park family had to be, “I didn’t know she was”, she said. Suddenly, she narrowed her eyes, looking at her sister, “wait … would it have made any difference if you’d known?”

Lizzie shrugged her shoulders, “probably not”, she honestly answered and moved towards the second car.

“I’m wondering how big their house is”, she said, after her sister and Caroline were seated next to her. Josie looked at her confused, suddenly feeling the tiredness and exhaustion caused by the last few days and the long flight kicking in, “whose house?”, she yawned.

“Penelope’s … duh”, Lizzie shot back.

“It’s huge, that’s why we’ll be staying there for the sabbath”, Caroline chimed in, not looking at her daughters, her gaze capturing the landscape outside of the car.

“What?”, the twins asked simultaneously. But whereas Lizzie’s ‘what’ was full of excitement, Josie’s was hesitant. Finally Caroline turned around, scanning her daughters expressions, giving the brunette a soft smile, lightly squeezing her knee, “the house is really _really_ huge”, she tried to make Josie understand, that she wouldn’t have to deal with Penelope before she was ready, “and my apartment is not even close to big enough for more than two people.”

“Doesn’t your apartment have two bedrooms?”, Lizzie asked, “Jo and I can share a room”, she added, also seeing her sister’s worried expression.

Caroline pulled her lips tightly, “the second room is kind of … Penelope’s.” Somehow, she sounded guilty, uncomfortably shifting in her seat, as if she needed to get ready to justify herself. But neither one of the twins responded. Josie turned her head, looking out the window, while Lizzie tightened her jaw, following her sister’s movement.

The Park’s estate consisted of a wide garden area, which was surrounding a large mansion. High trees were defining the boarders of the property, while the flawless green of the grass within these boarders was interrupted by numerous patches of beautiful flowers here and there. The cars were moving towards the mansion and Josie could see the edge of what looked like a big greenhouse behind the whitish building. When the car stopped, Lizzie turned her head to Josie, “mom was not lying. It’s massive!”

The driver opened the door for them to exit. Josie’s face was hit by a draft of fresh air, smelling like grass, spring flowers, nature. She took a deep breath in, closing her eyes while doing so.

“Miss,” a gentle male voice reached her ears, “if you would follow me.” She slowly opened her eyes, looking into an older man’s face. His features were soft, grandpa-like if she had to name it, friendly, kind, somehow wise. He smiled at her and held out his hand, the other arm was hidden behind his back, his posture was slightly bent forward. She gave him a short smile, followed by a slight nod, and started walking in the direction his hand was pointing. He followed her with fast but almost quiet steps. The other girls were already standing in the entrance hall.

“Where is mom?”, she heard Penelope whisper in Helena’s direction. The older girl turned around to look at her sister. She started smiling, like a parent would smile about their child asking a stupid but cute question, “I don’t know. Somewhere in the house, probably shooing around everybody, as if they were her serfs. You know how she is when it comes to these festive activities.” She again turned around, facing the other girls.

“Okay guys, so this is Nigel, kinda our most important man here”, Helena gestured in the direction of the man, who had brought Josie in, before she gave him a cheeky wink, which was followed by a warm smile, that he immediately returned, “if you have any questions or need anything just let him know and he’ll get it for you.”

He bent his body, just slightly as if to indicate a bow, “you can follow me ladies, I’ll bring you to your rooms.” He was polite but to Josie’s surprise not in a bourgeois manner. His face looked like he was trying to hide a cheeky, boyish smile. He turned around and they started following him upstairs. The long white staircase lead to a hallway with, what looked like a million closed doors covering both sides. Nigel walked down the hallway, assigning one door to each of the girls. Josie was the last person standing next to him, when Nigel pointed at the door next to Lizzie’s room, “here you go, miss …”, he gave her an expectant look, raising his brows.

“Oh”, the brunette smiled, her gaze lowered to her feet, “Josie. I’m Josie.”

His eyes widened, looking at her with a new warmth radiating from them, when his smile grew even bigger, “well, here you go, miss Josie.” He opened the door, giving Josie a clear view of a large room. She stepped into it, letting her gaze roam around. High ceiling, a high window, letting in a lot of light. There was a bed, big enough for at least two people, on one side of the room, a large closet on the other side. Bookshelves, some succulents, and a larger plant in front of the window, which was framed by long curtains on each side of it. Her suitcase was standing next to the foot of the neat bed.

She turned around, giving Nigel a nod, “thank you very much, Nigel.”

When she was done unpacking her suitcase, she fell on the bed. Feeling the exhaustion creeping up her limbs, it was hard to keep her eyes open. Suddenly a knock on her door let her shoot up again. Lizzie barged into her room, turning around in the middle of it, scanning every inch.

“Wow, I have the feeling your room is even bigger than mine,” she complained, letting herself fall on the foot of the bed, “it’s crazy, isn’t it?”

Josie nodded her head yes, pressing her lips together into a tight smile.

“And these rooms are only for the guest,” Lizzie yelled out in excitement. Josie narrowed her eyes, giving her a questioning look, “how do you know that?”

“Oh, I asked Nigel. I wanted to know where Penelope and Helena have their rooms,” she explained without looking at the brunette.

Mentioning Penelope’s name reminded Josie of the reason they were here. She breathed out, suddenly feeling even more tired than a few minutes ago. She was still trying to convince herself, that she had every right to be mad at Penelope and Lizzie. For not telling her about their plans. For becoming some kind of friends, and whoosh, there was this jealousy again. It was like everyone else was getting along with Penelope, except Josie. She looked at her sister, who was now pacing across her room, inspecting one of the bookshelves. _How is she so calm?_ Usually, she would always feel some lowkey restlessness coming from Lizzie, but now she was just excited, full of energy. And somehow Josie felt the need to be angry about that as well, but no, she couldn’t. Maybe she was just too tired after all. Even too tired to let the anger take over again.

“I’m tired, Lizzie”, she grumpily said. Maybe Lizzie would take the hint. That Josie was still mad, that she didn’t want to talk about Penelope, or why they were here. But Lizzie just shot her a confused look.

“Oh, okay”, she hesitantly said, starting to awkwardly walk towards the door. She again turned around, an apologetic expression on her face, pushing her lips onto each other, forming a thin smile.

A heavy breath left Josie’s lungs, when she saw the door closing. Silence. She would finally get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and commenting. Stay safe y'all!


	18. #18 - Temple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all! I am so happy to share this with you! It's a whole chapter about Posie and honestly when I started writing it I didn't really know where I wanted to go, but I kinda like the way it turned out. I hope you guys like it! :)
> 
> And like always you're more than welcome to leave comments and criticism. :)

**#18**

“PENELOPE”, a female voice was shouting outside Josie’s door. She heard someone walking past her room.

“Where the hell is she?”, the voice asked, followed by an annoyed groan. The person started moving again and Josie waited until she couldn’t hear any steps anymore before she slowly opened the door. She stepped out into the hallway, again checking if she was alone. On quiet feet she walked towards the staircase, the voice from before becoming louder again.

“Nigel, have you seen Penelope?”

The man cleared his throat, “no, ma’am. Not since her arrival a few hours ago.” 

Josie walked around the corner, reaching the banisters. Nigel and the woman were standing at the foot of the staircase. His expression was neutral but at the same time giving away a hint of boredom. Like he was already used to her screaming at him, and she didn’t even look angry, just annoyed, “she is driving me crazy already.”

No doubt, this woman had to be Penelope’s mother. She was a little bit smaller than the average height, her thick shoulder-length hair had the same color like that of her daughters, immediately letting Josie think of the feathers of a raven, and her voice had that natural rasp, that Josie always loved about Penelope’s. Her whole appearance and demeanor both radiated elegance and confidence. Not to mention that she was simply beautiful. 

She lifted her gaze, directly staring at Josie. Her expression was still annoyed and somehow cold. Her hands on her hips, she pursed her lips, “you,” she loosely pointed at Josie, beckoning her down the stairs.

“Hi, I’m Jo –“, Josie began to introduce herself when she reached the foot of the staircase.

“Oh, I know who you are. You are my daughter’s little girlfriend”, her voice was pejorative.

The brunette felt her face heating up when the redness made its way up to her cheeks, “actually we’re not –“

Ophelia Park dismissively raised her hand, silencing Josie mid her sentence, “I really don’t care what you two are. But let me tell you that I smell Geminis from ten feet away. And it’s an odor I really do not enjoy.”

Josie gave her an insecure smile, even though Mrs. Park wasn’t looking at her, “I don’t really know what you are trying to say, but I guess it’s not something nice”, she mumbled under her breath.

“It really isn’t”, the woman agreed with her, “but anyway, you didn’t happen to see my daughter anywhere, did you?”, she asked, piercing green eyes meeting brown ones, causing Josie to shiver, the woman’s voice demanding.

“No”, Josie shook her head.

“Now … would you please help Nigel carrying that stuff outside then”, she pointed at some boxes standing closer to the backdoor of the house, “oh, and if you happen to see my daughter, let her know that I am looking for her. Thank you, darling”, it wasn’t a question but more of a false-friendly order. Without any more words, Mrs. Park turned around, slowly walking away.

The moment the door closed behind her, Josie let out a deep breath, relaxing her shoulders. She was still looking at the door Mrs. Park vanished behind when Nigel cleared his throat, “don’t take her words too serious.”

Josie picked up one of the boxes, which was heavier than it looked like. Nigel watched her struggling with the weight of it, before he walked towards her, wordlessly taking the box out of her hands. He nodded his head to the right, his eyes darting to one of the other boxes. And indeed, this box wasn’t as heavy as the one before. In return Josie gave him a thankful but thin-lipped smile, “I won’t”, she referred to what he had said a few seconds ago, “how does she know I am a Gemini, anyway?”

Nigel gave her a soft smile, “you really don’t know, do you?”

She shook her head.

“Well, just let me tell you that you apparently made a strong impression on Penelope. She never stops talking about you”, he paused, an expression of sadness flickering across his features for a second, “never stopped. When she still used to live here, I mean.” 

“Oh”, Josie whispered.

Nigel pulled up his bottom lip, taking in a breath, “it’s okay to miss her, you know.”

She felt the grip of her hands tightening around the box. She started chewing on her cheek, giving him a glance. It wasn’t only the fact, that she was indeed missing Penelope, but it was the way it felt. Missing her wasn’t just missing someone and therefore being sad, it was exhausting. And what was making it even worse was that she didn’t even realize how much she had missed her up to the moment when the raven-haired girl was standing in front of her at Salvatore again. She thought about the last four years and yes, the feeling of missing her was never really gone.

The first few weeks after Penelope left were by far the hardest. She missed her lingering around in every corner of the school, she missed her snarky comments, her goofiness, her way of making Josie feel special and somehow significant. She even missed the constant banters with Lizzie, which were annoyingly hilarious and entertaining sometimes. But she found ways to distract herself, to ignore the little jumps her heart would make whenever she saw dark, wavy hair covering the back of someone’s head in a crowded room, whenever she felt like someone had punched her in the gut when she visited a party at the Old Mill, or whenever she felt guilty when Penelope’s posse talked about her being the reason why Penelope had left in the first place.

And then there was Raf. Who was sweet and most of the time also attentive, thoughtful and kind. Until now she hadn’t been able to figure out what it was, that Raf was lacking, what she was missing. But the past days brought clearance, he just wasn’t Penelope. And she felt guilty for just the thought of it, although she tried again and again to fall in love with him, to give him everything he deserved. But, how could she? Missing Penelope like that, like someone cut something off of her, something she desperately needed to feel good, to feel wanted, to feel somehow complete.

Even though she tried to convince herself all those years that she despised Penelope for what she did to her to make it easier, to make the feeling of missing her go away eventually, a small part of her always felt like the other girl just needed to come back for them to be okay again. To somehow fix things. But things were different now, Penelope was different. She was too careful, too concentrated on saying and doing what she thought were the right things, which made Josie miss her even more. And most of all she missed the little things, like her cockiness, her smug smirk, her being overly confident, even the situations in which Penelope would make her feel embarrassed, caused by an inappropriate comment or a wink.

So, whoever Nigel was to Penelope, he obviously knew the feeling of missing her, and he was right. It was okay, she just needed to accept that herself.

She smiled a sad smile at him, “I guess”, she shrugged her shoulders, softly biting her lip.

Josie could see that he was thinking about something. He put down the box he was carrying and stepped closer to her. He then took the box she was carrying out of her hands, also placing it back on the floor. Before Josie could ask what this was all about, he started speaking, “actually, would you mind bringing that stuff to the greenhouse?”

He held up another box for her to take. She looked at him with a confused expression, “yeah, sure”, she furrowed her brows but didn’t move, not until he carefully pushed her in the direction of the backdoor.

The greenhouse was smaller than that of Salvatore. But probably a lot older. The glass of the windows was tarnished, the steel beams between the windows were covered with green and brown spots of rust. But it was beautiful. Large plants were trailing through some of the open skylights, some of them with colorful flowers, others just green. She opened the door and was immediately hit by the smell of hundreds of flowers and herbs. She looked around, trying to figure out where she had to put the box when her eyes landed on Penelope. She was sitting on a wooden chair next to a few herbs and weird looking flowers, she was reading a book, while the incoming afternoon sun beams softly caressed her facial structures.

Josie clenched her teeth, clearing her throat to not startle the other girl while she slowly walked closer to her. Penelope looked over the edge of her book, following Josie’s movements. When the brunette came to a stop a few feet away, Penelope broke the silence, “what are you doing here?”

She put down the book, revealing an amused smile, she was trying to suppress.

“Nigel wanted me to bring this stuff over here”, Josie explained. Penelope slowly nodded, the tip of her tongue wetting her lips.

Josie bit her cheek, putting down the box, “what are you doing here?”

“Hiding from my mom.”

“She sent me looking for you”, the brunette said, turning around, stoking the petals of one of the plants next to her. Penelope didn’t answer but Josie could hear her putting away the book, rising from the wooden chair, and finally moving closer. She could feel goosebumps spreading from her neck down all over her arms and her back.

Penelope stopped next to her. She was standing so close that their shoulders almost touched. Josie closed her eyes, taking in Penelope’s smell of sandalwood and jasmine, perfected by a hint of vanilla. She took a small, almost unnoticeable step closer to the right, bringing their shoulders together, immediately feeling a comfortable warmth radiate from the spot of her skin where it was connected to Penelope’s. She could feel Penelope’s heavy breathing, from the corner of her eye she saw her wetting her lips again before she released a sigh, “so you’ve met her.”

Penelope breaking the silence ended the moment between them and Josie moved an inch away, breaking the connection of their skin. She turned around, looking at the other girl, who was staring into a void.

“Yes”, Josie couldn’t hide the discomfort the short but impressive conversation with Ophelia Park had left on her.

Knowing that her mother had probably shown her best side, Penelope also turned around. Her eyes met Josie’s, making her heart jump. That’s how they stood there for a few minutes, just staring into each other’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Jo”, Penelope whispered, again breaking the silence, which was almost louder than the girl’s voice. 

It was dark when Josie stepped out the backdoor again. The garden was covered in small circles of light. The others were already sitting on a few benches around small fireplace. She set down next to Lizzie, opposite of Penelope and Hope, who had her head leaned against the other girl’s left shoulder. The fingers of Penelope’s left hand slowly ran through Hope’s hair. A hot feeling of jealousy shot into Josie’s stomach, but she couldn’t look away, her eyes fixed on Penelope, whose gaze was lost somewhere in the flames of the fire in front of her.

“Pen, can you tell us a story?”, Hope mumbled into her neck. A few seconds passed before the raven-haired girl lifted her gaze from the fire, directly staring into Josie’s eyes. The same memories immediately shot into both their minds. Memories of hot summer nights, when they were sitting in the garden behind the main building of Salvatore. Josie’s head placed on Penelope’s lap, whose fingers absentmindedly stroke brown hair, from time to time they would softly touch Josie’s forehead. “Can you tell me a story? Just anything…”, Josie had often said, and Penelope smiled that soft, loving smile which was only reserved for the brunette. And then Penelope would tell Josie stories about kingdoms that once existed, about stars that lived their last lives somewhere far away in still unknown galaxies, and about creatures that seemed to only exist in books.

_Penelope’s finger was carefully tracing Josie’s facial structures. Her eyebrows, her nose, her cheekbones, her lips. Her touch was so soft that Josie almost didn’t feel it, but at the same time it was leaving a tingling sensation at every inch her finger touched the brunette’s skin. _

_“Can you tell me another story?”, Josie asked, her eyes still closed, just enjoying the intimacy of the moment. Penelope’s movements didn’t stop and without looking at her Josie knew that she was thinking about a story to tell, her browns furrowed, her eyes directed at the stars above them. _

_“Did someone ever tell you the story of why crows are black?”, she asked, tracing Josie’s jaw line. _

_Josie just slightly shook her head no in response._

_“Well there is this myth about a god-like creator, who created everything there is today. Everything the creator imagined became real. Trees, animals, grass, water, wind, light. Everything was based on its imagination, whenever the creator thought of something it was just there and it couldn’t be removed anymore. At some point the snow came. The white beauty arose from the thoughts of a creator that couldn’t think of something without immediately experiencing the consequences of it. So, it was getting cold, white, bleak everywhere. Many animals and plants were destined to freeze or starve to death.”_

_Josie opened her eyes. She narrowed her brows, directly looking at the other girl, “I meant a nice story, actually.”_

_Penelope gave her a soft smile, “just wait for it”, she said, pressing a light kiss on her forehead._

_“So, all the remaining animals organized a gathering to choose one animal that would be sent to the creator to end the cold, to stop the snow. And they chose the most beautiful animal of all, the crow. Feathers, more beautiful and colorful than a rainbow, a singing voice, more beautiful than that of all the birds we know of today. The crow flew to the creator, singing its song about the misery they were in, trying to convince the creator to finally lift the white blanket which was covering the earth. But the creator said, “I can’t. Everything I once imagine I can’t forget anymore, so it has to stay. It’s a law of infinity.” _

_But still the creator wanted to help its animals, so it gave the crow a torch, which originally was a sacred stick the creator dipped into the sun, where it caught fire. “With this you can tame the snow”, the creator said and sent the crow back to earth. And the creator was right. The snow was no longer a problem, but the crow had changed during its way back to earth. The soot of the torch colored its feathers black, caused its voice to only create scratchy croaks. Where the other animals were grateful and happy again, the crow was now deeply saddened. But the creator saw the crow grieving, so it told the bird, “don’t be sad, crow. If you look closely, you can still see the colors of your feathers shimmering in the light of the sun.”_

_Penelope stopped talking, her gaze roaming around the garden, “and that’s why crows seem to have shimmering blue or purple feathers when the sunlight hits them”, she finished her story. She cheekily smiled at Josie, who gave her a serious look. _

_“What is it with you and crows?”, she laughed. The raven-haired witch shrugged her shoulders, “I just like them”, she said. Josie shook her head in amusement, placing her hand on Penelope’s neck, before she carefully brought her face down to connect their lips in a soft kiss._

This was their thing. At least Josie thought it was, but apparently it was also a Hope and Penelope thing. She broke the eye contact, lowering her gaze to her fingers.

“Not today”, Penelope said, “I’m tired”, she continued, mumbling the words against Hope’s hair. She softly pushed Hope’s head off her shoulder, standing up, and leaving the fireplace. When she reached the door she turned around, meeting Josie’s eyes. It was dark, but Josie saw the short twitch of Penelope’s lips before she moved inside. Maybe it was still just their thing after all.

She was laying in her bed. No sleep in sight, still wide awake due to falling asleep after their arrival. And since they arrived in Belgium, she couldn’t stop thinking about raven hair and green eyes, which made it even harder for her to catch some sleep. No matter how hard she tried to push the constant thoughts away, they would always come back to one point. Penelope Park. Maybe she was too far away from home, too far away from Raf to keep her mind busy with him, too far away from the things she was used to, which made it possible to distract herself. Maybe seeing Penelope each and every day was simply too much.

She pushed the blanket off her legs, she was still wearing her cloths she wore all day. When she left her room, it was a few minutes after midnight, so the hallway was dark and empty, the whole house was dangerously quiet. She tiptoed down the stairs and out of the backdoor, taking in a deep breath of the cool air. Maybe taking a short walk around the huge garden would make her feel tired.

The small lights here and there spent some light, so that it wasn’t completely dark around her, but apparently it was still too dark to foresee the person crashing into her, before it was too late. Josie hit the ground while the other person managed to stay on both feet.

“God, I am so sorry”, the girl immediately held out her hand to help Josie back up.

“Penelope?”, Josie groaned, finally on her feet again, tapping out the dust from her cloths.

They stepped a few feet aside into the light of one of the lamps hidden in a neatly cut bush. Penelope was wearing sportswear, she was out of breath, and her chest was heaving heavily. Josie’s lips slightly parted while she eyed Penelope. A few damp strands of raven hair were stuck to her skin, beads of sweat were running down her neck, along her collarbone, before they disappeared in Penelope’s sports bra. Josie’s eyes followed their movements and she unconsciously wetted her lips.

“Are you okay?”, Penelope asked, snipping her back from her thoughts. The brunette cleared her throat. Now she appreciated the darkness, at least partly hiding her blush, “yeah, I am fine. What are you doing here?”

“I went for a run, needed to get my head clear”, she said, “what about you? Can’t sleep?”

“No”, Josie sighed. She slowly turned around, ready to walk back into her room, ready for a long sleepless night full of thoughts about the girl standing in front of her. But Penelope carefully laid her hand on Josie’s arm, “can I show you something?”

Josie thought about it for a second. She could just walk back to her room, spending the whole night with her confusing thoughts, or she could accept the girl’s offer. Either way she would spend her night with Penelope Park.

She turned back around, facing her ex, pressing her lips into a thin line, “sure, why not.”

They walked next to each other in silence. There was this continuous touching of their hands again and Josie knew she would be thinking about that later non-stop. How soft Penelope’s skin felt, how she felt uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time, how she wanted the skin contact to stop, even though she couldn’t get enough of it, craving it whenever it stopped for just the split of a second.

After what felt like hours of walking but in reality were only about 15 minutes, they reached a forest, which bordered the Park’s property. Josie abruptly stopped, “you are not trying to kill me, are you?”

Penelope turned around, giving her a mischievous smile, “I guess you have to find out.”

The brunette bit her lip, she made a hesitant step forward, her hands fumbling at the hem of her shirt. Penelope stepped closer to her, “do you trust me?”, she asked in a careful voice, her expression soft and certain at the same time. Josie slightly nodded, looking directly into Penelope’s eyes.

“Okay”, the witch smiled, taking Josie’s hand in her own. The brunette’s eyes immediately shot to their intertwined fingers, while Penelope was already walking into the forest, gently dragging Josie behind her. The way their fingers hugged each other felt all too natural, one of the things Josie forgot about during the last four years. How good it actually felt to just hold her hand. 

After another 15 minutes the witch stopped, releasing Josie’s hand. Not knowing what she was supposed to do with it now, the brunette again started fumbling at the hem of her shirt. They were standing in front of something that looked like a small cave. The entrance was covered in wild growing plants. Penelope took a step closer to it, pushing the green curtains aside. She smiled at Josie, the movement of her hand indicating her to step into it.

So, Josie entered the cave, which was not as small as it seemed from the outside. “So, if you intend to kill me here, how long will it take until someone finds my body?”, she jokingly asked while she further walked into the cave. There was a small bridge leading over blue water, stalactites and stalagmites covering huge areas of the ceiling and ground. The moonlight was shining through a large hole in the ceiling, she turned around, letting her gaze roam around everything the light made visible.

“What is this place?”, she asked, her voice sounding exited.

Penelope followed her, carefully walking over the thin bridge-like structure, “this part of the forest actually is also my family’s property”, she started explaining.

“But I thought you first moved here four years ago, so did your mom buy all this?”, the other girl interrupted her, still walking deeper into the cave.

“No, my family owns this piece of land for generations. I found this cave by accident one day, shortly after we moved here, but never understood what it was.”

“What do you mean?”, Josie asked.

They walked into a round-shaped part of the cave. Josie stopped in the middle of it, again turning around, letting her eyes adjust to the now lower light. The walls were covered with what looked like runes and other symbols, next to ancient mural paintings. She moved closer to the wall in front of her, gently tracing one of the symbols.

“Look at all the stuff on the walls. It never made any sense to me, until I heard about the Undine Coven. I think this place is somehow connected to it, maybe it was something like a temple or whatever”, Penelope finished her explanation.

Josie took a closer look at the paintings, and Penelope was right. All of them portrayed some kind of water. Wavy structures, some of the paintings looked like a million droplets of water, creatures that looked like they were half fish, half human, but also women with long hair, sitting next or within water holes and rivers. Women on rocks in the middle of the sea, gazing into a void, like they were searching for something, like they were waiting for someone to come by to save them, to give them their long-awaited redemption.

She turned around, eying the other girl, whose fingers were also stroking along the walls, “this place is beautiful”, Josie whispered. And so was Penelope, how she was standing there, how the remaining moonlight, which was finding its way through small holes within the ceiling, was shining onto her hair, how the light, which was reflected by the water made her skin shine, and her eyes sparkle.

Their eyes met and for a second Josie forgot how to breathe. She stared at her, not realizing how Penelope slowly walked closer to her until she was standing right in front of her, almost close enough to feel her breath on her lips.

The raven-haired girl held out her hand, directed at one of the walls, “motus”, she whispered, slightly twisting her wrist. Josie followed her gaze and suddenly the paintings started moving. The waves started streaming on the spot, paintings of water drops started to slowly run down the walls. Undines started brushing their hair, dipping her feet into the water.

Josie watched the whole thing in awe, before she fixed her eyes back on Penelope, “can I try it?”

Penelope nodded.

She carefully touched the witch’s hand and a few seconds later their hands began to glow in a bright red, while Josie gently siphoned the needed magic.

Siphoning felt different every time. Sometimes Josie would feel how strong or weak the magic was she was siphoning. Sometimes it would hurt, not her, but the other person. Sometimes the flowing magic felt could, sometimes warm, sometimes she didn’t feel anything at all. Sometimes the magic felt better than other times. But it always felt strange, there was always something uncomfortable, something intimidating, making Josie painfully aware that it was not her magic, that she was taking something that didn’t belong to her, sometimes it even felt as if her body was trying to fight the foreign substances concentrating in every inch of it.

But with Penelope it always felt different to all the other people or items she had ever siphoned from. Penelope’s magic felt strong, cold, somehow it had a calming effect on Josie. It felt familiar. It was still strange, sharing something so intimate, but with her it was somehow not an uncomfortable or intimidating feeling. She felt closer to her in those moments, felt a connection she never felt with anyone else. Penelope’s magic always felt good, like she couldn’t get enough of it, like she needed more and more, and even more. It was always hard to stop but she never did hurt her, not once. Paying attention to her facial expressions, how she was breathing, feeling her heartbeat through the flowing magic, making sure that she would always stop before Penelope showed any signs of feeling uncomfortable.

But feeling this overwhelming sensation again, which she hadn’t felt for at least four years now hit different. She couldn’t remember that siphoning had ever felt so good. She needed to be careful, taking too much could kill Penelope. But the girl trusted her, she didn’t move, didn’t feel the need to pull her hand away, and so Josie laid the other hand on Penelope’s cheek. Her thumb gently caressing the soft skin underneath it. She was so close, and Josie’s eyes flickered to her lips.

Unconsciously she even moved closer to her, now feeling Penelope’s calm breath on her lips. She was so close, that it almost felt unbearable to not kiss her. _Just one little kiss_, Josie thought, again glancing at the girl’s lips. She audibly gulped, still trying to push the thought away.

Penelope bit her lip, her breathing getting a little heavier. Her eyes now also flickering to Josie’s lips. The tension was unbearable now, soft lips dangerously close, and just when Josie started one last attempt to stop herself from kissing Penelope, the other girl laid her hand in Josie’s neck, closing the last few inches between them.

Josie didn’t stop siphoning for a few more seconds, before she released Penelope’s hand, placing it on the witch’s hips, pulling her even closer, deepening the kiss.

Soft lips were dancing with each other, when the brunette suddenly disconnected them, jumping away from Penelope, who gave her a confused look. Both girls were out of breath, when Penelope wiped away what was remaining from the kiss with her index finger gently stroking her bottom lip.

“I’m sorry”, Josie whispered. 

The raven-haired girl didn’t know what to do. Her first instinct was to take a step closer, to take Josie’s hand, to pull her into a hug, but she just clenched her teeth, “it’s okay.”

The siphoner breathed out heavily, running her fingers nervously through her hair, “no. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m with Raf.”

Penelope’s eye twitched witch the mention of Raf, but still she stepped closer to her, keeping enough distance between them, while Josie turned away from her.

“We don’t have to make this awkward”, Penelope sighed before she nervously bit her lip. The other girl didn’t turn around, her eyes directed to her feet, “can we just go back maybe?” Her voice was shaky.

“Yeah, sure”, the raven-haired girl whispered, and Josie immediately started walking back to the entrance of the cave. When the girls stepped outside of it, Josie was shivering. Suddenly, it was much colder then before. She wrapped her arms around her own body, still not able to look at Penelope, so she waited for the witch to walk into the right direction to follow her back to the Park’s mansion.

The walk back to the house was quiet, but this time the silence between the two didn’t feel comfortable, it didn’t feel like they were in this quiet exchange where one doesn’t need words to understand each other, to know what the other person is thinking. It was a heavy kind of silence, a screaming kind of silence. Penelope was walking a few feet in front of Josie, and finally she lifted her gaze, watching her. Her hands felt cold, however the walking helped beating the cool air, and her lips still felt like they were burning. Her thoughts shot back to the moment when Penelope had connected their lips and Josie wasn’t even angry about the kiss itself. In fact, rather the opposite, she felt relieved that Penelope had kissed her. She wanted the kiss as much, as Penelope wanted it, maybe even more. Maybe she wanted to feel something again while kissing someone, because with Raf she never really felt anything. His lips were soft and his kisses were gentle, but she didn’t feel that rising warmth radiating from her stomach, she didn’t feel the burning sensation wherever his lips touched her skin, she didn’t feel like she needed more of it whenever it stopped. But thinking about the kiss with Penelope made her feel guilty. Guilty about how she felt during the kiss, how she didn’t think about Raf immediately, how she even deepened the kiss, how she felt her heart beating faster with every passing millisecond.

She didn’t realize that they were already back at the house and in front of her room until Penelope cleared her throat. She lifted her eyes, looking directly into Penelope’s.

“Penelope”, Josie said, not knowing why but she felt like she needed to say something, to break the silence, to make it less awkward, to make it less hard to stare into her eyes. A few seconds passed, Penelope waited for her to continue, to just say anything, but Josie didn’t.

So, Penelope gave her a thin-lipped smile, sadness hidden within the way she was still staring at her, “I’m sorry Josie. Good night”, and with this she turned around, leaving Josie standing there in the empty hallway.

When Josie let herself sink into the bed, she was still wide awake, but this time sleep wasn’t even a consideration. She needed to think, a desperate smile creeping on her lips. So, she would spend her night thinking about Penelope Park after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only proof read once, so sorry for any mistakes .. lol
> 
> Oh and the story about the crows was something a friend of mine told me while we were out working in the field for my master's thesis. I couldn't remember all of it but I somehow liked it and had to think about it the day I was writing that part haha


	19. #19 - Choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola, y'all! I am back! Or at least I'm trying to be.   
I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating for the past couple of month. The new chapter isn't one of the best, it's more like a 'practice chapter' to get back in, if you know what I mean ... also I think there will only be like 3 or 4 more chapters before this fic is finished. :-)
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys are doing okay and that you and your families are healthy. :-)

**#19**

  
  
“You need to stop apologizing to her”, a raspy voice startled Penelope. She turned around, only seeing the outline of her sister’s body leaning against the wall. She clenched her teeth, before she turned around, starting to walk back to her own room.

Helena followed her, slowly, always keeping her distance, “seriously, Penelope. I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but I bet you’re not the only one to blame for whatever it was.”

Penelope stopped. Inhaling a deep breath, “you’re right. You don’t know what happened.”

“Then tell me.”

Penelope stopped walking and slowly turned around, looking into an older version of her own face. For a short moment she thought about it, thought about telling Helena about what had happened between her and Josie. But there wasn’t anything to tell. There were no big arguments, no big fights, just Penelope leaving. That was it, that was all that had happened. 

Helena pulled up one side of her mouth into a soft smile, “you look at her with so much guilt in your eyes. And I get it. You left her. You didn’t tell her about the merge. And she is giving you the cold shoulder because of it. But you constantly apologizing to her doesn’t seem to change anything about it.”

At first, Penelope’s expression didn’t change. She looked tired, too exhausted to have a conversation like that. Yet, her sister was right. Her apologies didn’t change anything. Josie was still angry and hurt, and of course she was. But apologizing to her was the only thing, Penelope could do, wasn’t it? Making sure to not cross any lines, to protect her, to do everything right this time. _Easier said, than done_, she thought. She cleared her throat, “I kissed her”, thinking about what happened an hour ago.

“So?”, the smile on her sister’s lips grew into a big grin.

“She has a boyfriend”, Penelope whispered, her eyes moving to her feet, her chest feeling like her heart wanted to jump out of it. Like it was trying to break all the protecting ribs above it into a million pieces of bone shrapnel.

Helena released a short chuckle, “but did she kiss you back?”

The younger girl licked her bottom lip before she started chewing on it. Helena smirked, walking closer to her sister. She laid her arm around Penelope’s neck, pulling her closer, while she pushed her further walking down the hallway, “oh come on, don’t tell me you didn’t like it.”

“Whatever”, Penelope rolled her eyes, laying her arm around her sister’s middle, “let’s go, I’m tired.” And both girls silently agreed on finishing this conversation some other time.

___

Her night had been way too short, but Josie wasn’t tired at all, leaving her room early in the morning. It was still dark outside, by the time she entered the large dining room, letting her gaze roam around the hall, she saw only Hope sitting at the long table. The other girl didn’t notice her, being busy eagerly typing on her phone.

“Hi”, Josie said, letting herself fall onto the chair next to Hope. Hope didn’t stop looking at her phone, “good morning”, she mumbled, her phone vibrating in her hand.

“Who is it?”, Josie asked, curiously eying the device in Hope’s hand. The auburn-haired girl put it down, rubbing the bridge of her nose, “Landon.” Her voice was carrying an obviously annoyed tone.

The brunette knowingly smiled, “is he still trying to ask you out?”

Hope simply nodded, groaning something that sounded like a confirmation, obviously annoyed, but it was too early for Josie to tell if it was because of her or Landon. She narrowed her eyes, “why don’t you say yes?”, well aware, that Hope and Landon didn’t work out the first time, nor the second. But still. Thinking about how close Hope and Penelope had already become again, she needed to make sure to push the auburn-haired girl in every other direction possible, as long as she would keep her hands off of Penelope. 

“You know why”, Hope exhaled, sounding like a mother lecturing her child. She closed her eyes, and Josie furrowed her brows, “because it’s someone else you want”, she then answered her own question. Why was she thinking about Hope wanting Penelope, when it was so crystal clear that she still wanted her twin.

Hope slightly nodded, while Josie’s thoughts were still circling around Penelope. No longer because she thought Hope wanted her, but because she did. Josie did. Josie wanted her. Right in that moment it was so clear to her, that she almost felt embarrassed by herself still trying to deny it, to fight against it with everything in her.

“Love is so complicated”, she sighed, more to herself. Hope eyed her, while Josie was watching her own hands playing with the napkin in front of her. “It’s not. It’s about choices”, Hope smiled.

Without lifting her gaze, Josie stopped pulling at and kneading the napkin, “but you can’t choose, who you love.”

“True”, the older girl agreed, still wearing a smile on her lips. Eventually, the brunette looked at her, trying to figure out what she was thinking, “besides … love hurts”, Josie mumbled.

Both girls sat there in silence for a few moments, just looking at each other, Hope was still smiling, and Josie was giving her a confused look. Not sure what to say, she waited for Hope to continue the conversation, to elaborate her statement from before. “Sometimes, but you still have the choice to decide, who you are willing to take the risk of getting hurt for”, Hope obliged Josie’s silent plea.

“Why are you so sure that you and Lizzie will get back together?”, she curiously asked, making sure that the other girl was actually talking about her sister and not someone else. Hope’s smile grew wider. The brunette would’ve expected a sad looking smile, a pout, a thoughtful expression maybe, but Hope simply smiled at her. Full of hope and nothing else, “because we love each other. And maybe it’s not our time now, but it will come eventually. And until then … I’m fine to wait.”

Hope made it sound so simple. Like it was the easiest and most logical thing in the world, that two people, who love each other, would always end up together. Like there was no other outcome possible. And Josie thought about it, for only a minute. As much as she wanted to believe that Hope’s words were true, they weren’t. Maybe in books and movies, but not in real life. There wasn’t always a happy end for everyone. Still, just imagining that all the hurt and pain and sadness would lead to something beautiful after all made her smile. Her mind suddenly created all those pictures of her and Penelope living happily ever after, and for one breath of a second it felt good, and right, and somehow final, but then she thought about Raf and how she would hurt him at the same time. All those pictures and not yet made memories fell apart in front of her inner eye. Her expression went from hopeful to sad within a second and Hope narrowed her eyes, “what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know”, Josie honestly answered, “everything is just so … frustrating.”

Hope bit her cheek, she knew exactly what the other girl was talking about. She had seen Josie and Raf growing closer over the past years, and sometimes she thought that Josie was finally moving on, but when Penelope came back, it all changed. She noticed how Josie was looking at her, the effect Penelope still had on the brunette. “You still love her”, she voiced what Josie was thinking. And of course, she did. That wasn’t even the question, even if she wanted to, she couldn’t hide her feelings for Penelope from anyone, who knew her even for the tiniest bit of time. So, she just nodded, “but I don’t want to.”

Josie’s honesty was heartbreaking, Hope thought. Seeing how Josie was struggling with herself, about something so simple. How she would constantly reopen old wounds, just to make loving Penelope feel bad, like it was not right. How she would always remind herself, that Penelope had hurt her, how she was telling herself how bad Penelope was for her, when in reality she was just a girl trying to do her best to protect Josie. How she was hurting not only herself, but also Penelope over and over again, in the hope that she would one day finally stop loving her.

“Why?”, Hope asked, knowing the answer already.

Josie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, her hands shaking, “because… first of all there is Raf. He loves me and I don’t wanna hurt him. And I don’t know”, she stopped, collecting her thoughts, “it’s like everybody is getting along with Penelope just fine, except me. My mom is kind of her new best friend, no offence”, she gave Hope an apologetic smile, “and even Lizzie is getting along with her, talking to her, they even joke around with each other instead of about each another.”

The older girl turned around in her chair, facing Josie, and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. She lightly squeezed it.

“If you’d let her, you two would get along just fine”, Hope winked, trying to lighten up the mood. Josie started pouting, before she dramatically threw her head back, “it’s just…”, she released a breath, “I wish she would stop apologizing for everything. That she’d stop tiptoeing around me and treating me like I’m someone who needs to be protected all the time.”

For the first time in days Josie felt like she could finally process what was happening, as if she was finally ready to talk about the thoughts she had for days. Like she had been stuck under water until that very moment, depending on the last bit of oxygen in her lungs, before she now finally reached the surface again, taking a long-needed breath of fresh air.

“I’ve missed her so much”, she confessed with nothing more than a whisper, “but everything is so different now.” 

She felt Hope’s hand squeezing her shoulder again, “you should talk to her”, she said, standing up, “and you should talk to Raf. You’ll hurt him either way.” Her finger’s stroke Josie’s shoulder when she walked past her leaving the dining room.

Josie released an exhausted sigh, letting her head fall back in her neck, “I know.”

A few minutes later then peace and quiet of the early morning were gone. Lizzie and Caroline were sitting next to her, chatting with Yves and Helena about something Josie wasn’t interested in, while busy hands of the Park’s staff were setting the table.

The noises stopped for the split of a second, when Ophelia Park entered the room. Her gaze cold and unreadable roaming the table. She moved closer with fast steps, quiet ‘good morning’s were coming from every corner of the room, but none of the staff members were actually looking at the woman. She stopped at the head of the table, “good morning”, she said, almost unnoticeably pushing up the corner of her mouth in something, Josie supposed, was meant to be a smile, “has anyone seen Penelope?” So, she was still looking for her, Josie thought, hiding a small grin behind her hand.

The other girls shook their heads and when Ophelia Park was ready to let them be, Hope and Penelope entered the room. Penelope stopped right in her tracks, making Hope almost run into her. For a moment it seemed like Penelope wanted to turn around and leave the room again, but if that was her plan, it was too late by the time her brain was done making it. Her mother had already noticed her, a cold-looking smile now covering her red lips.

“Penelope”, she said, and Penelope flinched. When she realized that all eyes were on her, she won back her composure.

“Mother”, she cleared her throat, a false smile plastered across her face, which could easily compete with that of her mother. Mrs. Park moved closer toward her, and when she stopped right in front of Penelope, she lovingly placed both her hands on either cheek of her daughter’s face.

Josie immediately noticed the discomfort replacing Penelope’s cocky expression, as soon as her mother touched her, her thumb almost lovingly caressing the skin beneath it.

“Now, let me look at you”, Ophelia ordered, and Penelope didn’t dare to move, “it has been ages.“

The younger girl pulled her face away, her hands firmly pushing down her mother’s. Still feeling the touch of the woman’s hands lingering on her cheeks, she took a small step back, bringing some distance between them.

“Not quite ages”, the girl said, rolling her eyes. However, the slight shrug of her shoulders was her admission that since she lived with Caroline, she hadn’t seen her mother as often anymore. Remembering all the excuses, she had used whenever Ophelia Park had asked her to at least visit her from time to time but also how her mother wasn’t even interested in her in the slightest when she was living in Salvatore.

Her mother’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts, “whatever you say, darling”, and before Penelope could respond, her mother already continued, “I have to talk to you about your …”, she turned around, eying Penelope’s friends sitting around the table, “guests.”

The girl already knew what this talk would be about. That her ‘guests’ weren’t exactly meeting all the requirements to attend a sabbath dedicated to the ‘pure blood’. She rolled her eyes one more time and suddenly felt like a heavy pressure was trying to burst her ears. The expression on Hope’s face let her know, that she was feeling the same sudden pain. With one simple motion of her hand, Ophelia Park created a soundproof bubble around them, knowing her daughter well enough and how she wouldn’t want to talk about their friends when said people could follow the conversation.

When the pressure around her was finally normal again, her mother said, “unfortunately, I cannot let them attend the sabbath.”

“But –“, Penelope tried to protest, but her mother just lifted her hand. A clear signal for Penelope to stop talking, so she did. Ophelia Park released a long breath, while Penelope was getting ready for one of their mother-daughter-arguments, but her mother looked at Hope instead.

“You know I really respect you, Hope. But this is to honor the purest blood, witch blood, to be precise. I could never do something to upset the eldest of our kind. You do understand that darling, don’t you?”, her voice was bittersweet, her smile too wide to even give the impression that she was trying to make it look real.

Hope swallowed, of course this was about her family and her not being a ‘proper’ witch. She didn’t know what to say, knowing that Mrs. Park’s word was probably final. Anger started to spread through her body, and that stupid smile on that woman’s face grew wider with every second that passed.

“I, uhm –“, she stumbled over her words.

“What are they talking about?”, Lizzie whispered. Josie just shrugged her shoulders. Both girls turned their heads, expectantly looking at their mother, “mom?” But Caroline couldn’t hear them. So, she shook her head, “can’t hear them.”

“Acoustic shielding spell”, Helena said and pushed a grape into her mouth, chewing it with relish.

Josie and Lizzie hummed in amazement before they again turned their heads to follow the soundless conversation. Penelope looked angry, disappointed, but at the same time her expression looked like she had been expecting whatever her mother was telling them even before she had started.

Suddenly Mrs. Park turned her head just slightly to the left, she was talking to Hope now. _Why is she talking to Hope?_ Hope’s expression had changed. The initial confusion was replaced by anger and frustration. Penelope reached for her hand and maybe Josie was starting to see things, but it looked like Penelope was softly caressing the back of Hope’s hand with her thumb, hiding the touch behind her leg, so that Mrs. Park wouldn’t see it.

And while the brunette was staring at their touching hands with narrowed eyes, Helena was amusingly watching Josie. She pushed another grape into her mouth, “Josie”, she chuckled. Josie didn’t stop watching Hope and her ex, snarling a short, “what?”

“There’s not need to get jealous”, Helena chuckled, making Josie abruptly turning her head towards her. But before she could respond to Helena, she heard Mrs. Park snipping her finger’s. The soundproof bubble around them was gone.

“This is my last word, Penelope.” 

Still holding hands, Hope and Penelope watched Mrs. Park leaving the dining room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, if you're still (or again) reading! I hope you liked it. :-)


	20. #20 - Curses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be some Posie scenes in the next chapter! :-)

**#20**

_Their kiss was still lingering on her lips. How it was gentle at first but quickly turned into something more heated, more passionate. The way she had pushed Josie against the wall, her own hands placed on the girl’s hips, her grip firm. Josie’s lips were soft and warm, and even though she had tried to swallow them, Penelope had noticed every single one of her soft moans. _

_Her finger gently traces her bottom lip, while she reads the same sentence over and over again. The library is almost empty. It’s just her and a handful of other students. And there is Josie, sitting alone at a table in one corner of the room, staring holes into Penelope’s back. Before Josie had entered the room, the raven-haired witch was concentrated on reading a book about ancient spells, preparing some essay for Dorian. But that became impossible as soon as she had noticed Josie’s presence. _

_She licks her lips, audibly exhaling and closing the book in front of her. She doesn’t turn around, doesn’t look at Josie, but Josie knows that it’s her fault the other girl can’t finish her homework. _

_“Can you stop being so loud?”, Penelope says, and she sounds annoyed. Josie frowns, confusedly turning her head, first to the left, then to the right, looking for someone who’s talking too loudly, or doing something that could have possibly annoyed Penelope. But she’s alone in her corner of the room and the tables around her and those between her and Penelope are all empty. Her face heats up, becoming a few nuances redder when she realized that Penelope is talking to her. _

_“I’m not doing anything”, she says. Penelope immediately turns around, her fingers are tightly gripping the back of her chair. Her expression changes from annoyed to smug within a second. Josie feels her heart beating a little faster, it’s the same look Penelope gave her yesterday, before she had kissed her, pushed her against the wall, making her feel things she shouldn’t have felt. She breaks the eye contact and immediately regrets it when she hears Penelope’s light chuckle. When she looks up again, Penelope is sitting opposite of her, her hands folded in front of her. She’s leaning on her elbows, taking up more than half of the table, when she moves closer to Josie, “I can hear you thinking.”_

_Josie doesn’t say anything, instead she just gulps, her eyes constantly moving between Penelope’s and her lips._

_“You’re thinking about the kiss.”_

_The red on her cheeks turns into a much darker shade. She wants to say that she’s not thinking about the kiss, that she doesn’t even know what the other girl is talking about. But her own body is betraying her. The color of her cheeks, her tensed body posture. She must be looking like a deer caught in the headlights of an approaching car. It takes everything in her to not lick her lips now, thinking about the taste of Penelope’s. _

_Penelope smirks, “so, I am right.”_

_Josie narrows her eyes, “I don’t know what you’re talking about”, she tries._

_“Oh, just how you don’t want your evil twin to find out, because she hates me and likes to think that you’re doing it too. In fact, you actually do like me, and you liked the kiss”, she truthfully says, “and that you hope it’ll happen again.” _

_Her pouty face really isn’t helping now, she thinks, trying to replace it with a straight expression. She sighs, “why are you always so full of yourself?” _

_The witch doesn’t answer, instead a playful smile covers her lips. She pushes her chair off the table, taking her book. When she’s next to Josie, she stops walking. Josie is startled when Penelope gently places her hand on the girl’s cheek, her face only inches away, “don’t worry, Jojo. I did really like it too”, she whispers, before she presses a soft kiss on Josie’s cheek, too close to her lips to be misunderstood. _

_The brunette watches Penelope leave, and when she’s finally out of sight, she releases a breath, she didn’t even realize holding. _

__

The house was busy, staff members were running around everywhere, giving the large ballroom the finishing touches. After their argument in the morning, Penelope hadn’t seen her mother, still she had decided that helping with the preparations was the best way to avoid a conversation with Josie about the kiss.

She was in the middle of setting up the last few tables and chairs when Lizzie suddenly appeared next to her. Penelope didn’t stop her movements, totally lost in her own thoughts.

“You have to convince your mom that we can attend the sabbath”, Lizzie hissed through clenched teeth. No reaction from Penelope. The blonde waved her hand in front of the other girl’s face, “Earth to Penelope”, she snipped her fingers. The witch shook her head, “what do you want, Lizzie?” She didn’t intent to sound so harsh.

Lizzie narrowed her eyes, “your mom? The sabbath?”

Penelope sighed, before she put down the chair in her hand. “Okay, I’ll talk to her later”, she said but Lizzie didn’t stop eying her.

“Is there something else you wanted?”

“I know that something happened between you and Josie last night”, Lizzie crossed her arms in front of her chest, “but whatever it is, it either has to wait or you have to fix it before tomorrow night. I need you guys to be focused.”

She sighed again, “your twin bond thing is really annoying.”

“I don’t need a twin bond to tell when Josie’s upset. And since you’re not looking the best yourself today, I figured”, the blonde shrugged her shoulders, “and besides, isn’t it always about Josie and you?”

Penelope sat down on the chair in front of her. She had never thought that Lizzie could be so attentive to something, that wasn’t about her. The blonde sat down in front of her, “I mean it’s kinda the point we’re here, isn’t it? You, doing all that ‘finding a loophole’ stuff for Josie, and that your family cursed mine...”

She carefully watched Lizzie. She looked so different from the Lizzie Penelope had known for half her life. Not so careless and indifferent anymore, somehow vulnerable, and tired. And Penelope wanted nothing more than to tell her, that she maybe had started all of it for Josie, but it was not all about her anymore. It was for Josie, for Caroline, but also for Lizzie. She took a deep breathe in, but Lizzie was faster, again, “you really shouldn’t give up on her, you know.”

This was probably the nicest thing, Lizzie had ever said to her, regarding Josie’s and her relationship, and Penelope’s expression showed her confusion about the encouraging words of the blonde. “Even if I wanted to, I could never…”, she honestly whispered more to herself. But Lizzie was listening to her words, like they were actual friends and like she needed to support the raven-haired witch in every way possible.

“She never told him, that she loved him”, she shrugged, pulling up her bottom lip. Her eyes were attentively scanning Penelope’s face. She somehow expected her to smile, or to do her smug smirk thing Josie loved so much, but Penelope looked unimpressed, and for a second Lizzie thought she might haven’t had heard what she had said. But then Penelope exhaled, “why are you telling me all this, Lizzie?”, she sounded exhausted.

Lizzie stood up, now grinning from ear to ear, “because even if you don’t want to, as long as you’re doing this for Josie, you’re also doing it for me.” She turned around, letting Penelope alone again. And Penelope watched her until she was out of sight, thinking that Lizzie was wrong. She wanted to do it for her, too.

Her mother’s office was probably the darkest room within the house. The large windows were covered by heavy curtains, the furniture was made of solid wood, large, almost looking threatening. Penelope was nervous when her knuckles hit the wooden door. She didn’t wait for her mother to call her in, instead she opened the door and walked into the dark room.

“Mother”, she said, but Ophelia Park didn’t lift her gaze off the paperwork in front of her. Penelope took a few steps closer, nervously biting her cheek. Her mother continued scribbling down her notes, when her harsh voice almost startled the girl standing in front of her, “Penelope.”

Their eyes met when Ophelia put down the pen, she folded her hands in front of her, waiting for her daughter to explain herself.

Penelope cleared her throat, “I need to talk to you.”

“Took you long enough”, the woman said, referring to Penelope’s attempts to avoid her, since they had arrived in Belgium. The girl looked at her, confused, “what do you mean?”

Instead of starting an argument, Ophelia beckoned her daughter to take a seat in one of the chairs opposites of her desk. Her expression was cold, unreadable, like always.

“You are here to talk about the merge.”

It wasn’t a question, and so wasn’t Penelope’s reply, “so, you _do_ know something about it.”

The older woman clicked her tongue, “no, not really”, her answer wasn’t what Penelope had expected, “nothing about a way out of it at least, and to be completely honest with you, I think it’s good that you don’t know either.”

“Why would you say that?”, Penelope huffed. It was no secret, that Ophelia Park wasn’t a fan of ‘untrue’ witches, and obviously Geminis in particular, but still, they were talking about Penelope’s friends.

Her mother’s expression was still unreadable, something that the younger girl despised. When it was impossible for her to know what her opposite was thinking.

“Because this curse, as every other curse, has its reason. And sometimes it is for us to just accept things how they are.”

Silence. A beat passed. A second.

“Mom”, Penelope whispered. Her voice was almost breaking, her eyes almost filling with tears, but when there was one thing Ophelia Park hated even more than hybrid creatures and non-true witches, it was weakness, “this is about my friends.”

For a second Ophelia continued to just stare at her daughter, she slightly narrowed her eyes, crooking her head, like she was trying to understand her daughter’s reaction. Again, her voice almost startled Penelope, “I know darling. Still, this isn’t your fight, and you shouldn’t make it yours. Why are you so eager to find a cure for it, anyway?”

“Because this curse is not only affecting the twins. It’s affecting Caroline, Hope, and me…”, she tried to say in a straight voice.

“You’ve always been so stubborn”, her mother chuckled, while Penelope sighed. Why was talking to her mother always so exhausting? Seriously.

“Mom, please. I- I love her”, she confessed the obvious. Ophelia didn’t seem surprised. She straightened her body posture, “but do you really?”

“Yes”, only a whisper.

A threatening grin now covered her mother’s lips, “you do know that every curse demands a sacrifice.”

Penelope cautiously watched her, not sure what she was trying to say, so she waited for her to continue.

“It’s probably just a myth but when the curse was laid upon the Gemini Coven, our ancestors bonded some Undines and their descendants to the Geminis. So, once one of those Undines meets a Gemini, they must fall for them. I guess, you were right after all, this curse is also affecting you. This is no love, darling, it is your curse. No more, no less”, her voice was so calm that it made Penelope even angrier, than her words did. She looked so smug. Penelope had to clench her teeth. Her fingernails were digging bloody holes into the palms of her fists.

“I don’t believe you”, was all she could reply, and her mother again clicked her tongue.

“You don’t have to. Like I said, it’s probably just a myth”, she again placed the pen in her hand, signaling that this conversation was over for her. Penelope exhaled, further clenching her teeth, trying to keep her composure. When she reached the door, she turned around, her mother was already back at her paperwork.

“Mother”, she repeated the beginning of the previous conversation. Ophelia just hummed, “can you please let them attend tomorrow?”

Ophelia lifted her gaze, her expression was hard, “you know that I can’t do that.”

“I know. ‘Honoring the pure blood’ and all”, Penelope mimicked the words of her mother, “but no one will even notice them. There will be hundreds of people, why does it matter so much?”

The older woman licked her lips, for the first time her expression showed the hint of annoyance, “let’s make a deal”, she offered. Penelope crooked her head. “You will stop talking about the merge, as long as you stay here, and your … friends are allowed to attend tomorrow”, her mother said, pushing the corners of her mouth up into something that was supposed to be a smile.

“Deal”, Penelope said, before she left the room.

When she reached her room, she let herself fall onto the bed. Her mother’s words still ringing in her ears. It had to be a lie, there was not other way possible. But what if it was actually true? What if her feelings for Josie weren’t real, but just her own personal curse? What if they would actually find a loophole and save the twins? Would she simply fall out of love? Would she stop feeling what she was feeling since… yes, since when exactly? _Don’t let her get into your head, Penelope, _she thought, knowing that it was a little too late for that already.

She closed her eyes, trying to force back the burning tears filling her eyes. The darkness felt good, embracing her with welcoming arms. A deep sigh left her, before she felt the exhaustion taking over her body, sending her into a deep, dreamless sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes. It is late where I live :P


	21. #21 - Josie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys! This is the longest chapter so far!
> 
> Before you start: this chapter is basically Josie being a mess for the next 7233 words. It's a little bit rushed sometimes and it's probably a bit chaotic from time to time, but it was too much for me to re-read everything more than once lol and I really needed a chapter to bring Josie's feelings in some kind of ... non-chaotic stage. 
> 
> The next chapter will focus on bringing forward the story, rather than Posie pining over each other (they still will tho)!

**#21**

Maybe Penelope wasn’t ignoring her, maybe she was just busy helping the whole day, Josie thought. Maybe she wanted Josie to bring up the kiss first. Or maybe she was indeed avoiding a conversation about it. Whatever it was, Josie felt anger rising in her middle. She pushed open the door to her sister’s room, seeing that Lizzie was laying on her bed, reading something on her phone.

“Hi”, she said, letting herself fall onto the bed, next to Lizzie who just hummed something to let her know, that she had noticed her.

Lizzie didn’t stop looking on her phone, when she said, “Penelope is going to convince her mom that we should attend the sabbath tomorrow.”

Josie’s silence then got her attention, she suspiciously eyed her from the corner of her eye, “are you okay?”

She sighed, still not saying anything. So, Lizzie put down her phone, turning her body to face her sister, “is this about last night?”

Josie’s cheeks turned red, “what did she tell you?”

The blonde shrugged her shoulders, a cheeky grin on her lips, “she didn’t tell me anything. But I see the way you look at her and how you interact around and with each other. And something was different today.” Lizzie thought about earlier this day, when Josie wasn’t listening to anything during breakfast, how she blushed as soon as Ophelia Park had asked for Penelope. When Penelope and Hope had entered the room and time seemed to stand still for a few seconds once Josie’s eyes had met Penelope’s and how it obviously had made Penelope uncomfortable. Maybe it was also the fact, that Penelope was still trying to avoid her mother, why she had looked like she wanted nothing more but to leave the room as soon as she walked through the door. But from the moment the raven-haired girl was standing in the large room, Lizzie had felt something shifting in her sister, too. At first it was confusing for Lizzie, she could feel Josie’s confusion but also a warmth within her at the same time, but then it clicked. It was Penelope. Sending mixed signals since… ever. Both of them. And then finally, Josie felt jealous looking at Hope’s hand holding Penelope’s. Or was it the other way around? Lizzie couldn’t tell anymore, feeling jealous herself. But whatever, this was about her sister.

“She kissed me”, Josie whispered. Lizzie just looked at her, a questioning expression on her face. Wasn’t that what she had wanted? Penelope?

“So?”

“I’m with Ra-“, before she could finish her excuse, Lizzie interrupted her, “yeah, you’re with Raf. Whatever, Josie. You always say that, and I respect that you don’t want to hurt his feelings, but what about you?”

A pouty face was staring back at her. Lizzie rooting for Penelope was something Josie didn’t know was possible and instead of saying anything she just continued pouting.

“Seriously, Josie, just answer me one question. What do you feel, when you look at her?”, Lizzie’s voice was so much softer than before. Josie took in a deep breath, not quite getting what was happening. Why would Lizzie try to talk her into something with the raven-haired witch? But whatever reason she had she was still right. Josie was definitely not over her ex, something everybody had realized as soon as they ran into each other at their dad’s office a few weeks ago. Something Josie had known for the last four and more years. This was her chance to finally tell someone what she was feeling, what she was thinking about the other girl.

“Well, there are so many things I’m feeling. Love, mostly. Joy, happiness, warmth”, she smiled, and Lizzie started grinning, but then Josie’s expression changed, “but there is also so much pain. And sadness, anger, fear. I’m… I’m scared, Lizzie.”

This was probably the most honest she had been about her feelings for Penelope since the girl had left her. Lizzie looked at her with sad eyes. This was also the first time, she could comprehend all the things Josie was feeling whenever she and Penelope were in the same room, whenever Penelope did something willing or unwillingly, which then affected Josie in some kind of way.

“What are you scared of?”

Josie bit her lip, closing her eyes, “loving her. I’m so scared that this feeling will never stop. That I’ll never get over her, that I am stuck forever. Stuck on her, while she doesn’t love me back.”

Lizzie stayed quiet. It was almost killing her seeing her sister like that. Sad about something she obviously got wrong.

“Josie”, she whispered, laying her hand on her sister’s cheek, carefully caressing it. Josie’s eyes were filling with tears, she tried to swallow the forming lump in her throat. Lizzie pulled her closer, embracing her, “how can you not see that she does all of this because she loves you?”

She felt her sister’s grip tightening around her. Penelope Park really broke her, when she left her. And a few months ago, Lizzie would have had killed her for breaking her sister’s heart, but now everything was different. She knew that Penelope was suffering as much as Josie was, which made the whole situation even more devastating. _Idiots_, she thought.

The house seemed to be larger than Josie had realized until now. At first it was just impressively massive, and Nigel had showed them all the important rooms and hallways, but now on her search for Penelope’s room she was confused by all the similar looking doors and corridors. She reached a dimly lit corridor with only a few doors to the left and right. This had to be one of the corridors Nigel had showed them, she thought. She stopped in front of a door covered with what looked like the remnants of hundreds of stickers, as if someone had tried to make the door look flawless again but had given up after hours of removing those stickers.

She knocked. No answer. She knocked again, a little less hesitant this time. Still, no answer. One last time, she wiped away what was remaining from her tears earlier. Her eyes felt puffy and she could still feel a light headache, but the need to see Penelope was much more urgent than her need to properly sleep.

“Pen?”, she whispered into the dark room. After a few minutes, her eyes finally had adjusted to the darkness. Penelope was laying on her bed, her hair was messy and spread all over her pillow. Even though she was sleeping, Josie could make out the frowning expression on her face. She sat down next to her, her hand hesitantly moving towards her ex’s face. Gently tucking a strand of hair behind Penelope’s ear. A soft sigh left the girl’s mouth, before she turned around, now facing Josie. She slowly opened her eyes, but instead of moving away or being startled, she just looked at the brunette with sleepy eyes.

“Jojo?”, she mumbled, and Josie couldn’t suppress the soft smile forming on her lips, before she replaced it with a puzzled look on her face, immediately pulling back her hand the moment she realized that her thumb was still caressing Penelope’s temple. 

Penelope sat up, confusedly blinking into her dark room, “what time is it?” She leaned over Josie, searching for her phone. 5:30 am. Realizing that she was still invading the brunette’s personal space, she leaned back against the head of her bed, just clearing her throat. The other girl simply shook her head, instantly missing the proximity, and for a moment both girls stayed quiet, looking at the wall opposite of the bed, listening to each other breathing.

“Do you want to talk about it?”, Penelope then asked.

Josie was chewing on her cheek. “No”, she whispered. Her fingers suddenly touched Penelope’s, and for a second, she thought about pulling her hand away. But the touch felt good, and Penelope not pulling her hand away gave her some sort of reassurance. So, instead of separating their hands, she moved her fingers closer, intertwining them. She felt Penelope’s eyes on her, but she didn’t dare to move, didn’t dare to do anything to ruin this moment.

“What are you doing here, Josie?”

Yes, what the hell was she doing here? In the middle of the night, in Penelope’s room, in her bed? The answer was so simple, so blatantly dancing in front of her inner eye. She gulped. _Just tell her_, her brain screamed. Not letting go of Penelope’s hand she said, “I wanted to see you.”

When Penelope didn’t say anything, Josie hesitantly turned her head to face her. Penelope’s expression was soft, but her eyes were still just searching Josie’s face. Getting more nervous with every passing second, Josie suddenly moved closer to her. She cupped Penelope’s cheek, before she gently pressed their lips together.

At first Penelope let herself sink into the kiss, but suddenly Josie felt her hand softly pushing her a few inches away. Their foreheads were still pressed together, Penelope’s eyes were closed, her breath a little shaky. Josie’s nervousness immediately came back a million times stronger than before.

“Are you sure?”, Penelope’s voice was soft and quiet, not carrying the usual cockiness. Almost as if she was afraid that Josie would back down again. Josie’s nod was weak, almost not existent. Penelope wetted her lips and closed the gap between them. With her hand in Josie’s neck she pulled her closer, so close that Josie found herself straddling Penelope’s legs, deepening the kiss.

Her hands had made their way underneath Penelope’s shirt, touching her bare skin, when they separated with heavy breaths and red lips. “I-“, Josie started, about to get lost in the green of Penelope’s eyes. Penelope, who slowly licked her lips, biting her lower lip, coming closer, ready to continue what they were doing a minute ago. But instead of giving her what she was craving, Josie laid her fingers on the other girl’s lips, stopping her from coming any closer. She was already dangerously close, almost too close for Josie to keep a clear head. “I better go”, she whispered carefully pulling her hand back, her fingers trailing over Penelope’s lips in the movement.

“It’s funny, isn’t it?”, the raspy voice caused Josie to abruptly stop before she had reached the door. She turned around, Penelope’s eyes were fixated on some invisible spot in the middle of her room. The brunette narrowed her eyes, “what?”

Green eyes met hers, “how something always seems to pull us back to each other.”

Josie didn’t say anything. Just standing there, the handle in her hand, ready to leave the room, ready to leave Penelope. Not forever, that was impossible, and Josie knew it, had known it for the longest time, but for now. Her eyes were still narrowed, and Penelope saw the question marks within them, and she wanted to get up, to take Josie’s hands, to kiss her forehead and tell her that everything would turn out to be fine eventually. But would it really? She wasn’t sure, not anymore. “Somehow I really thought it was simply the feelings we have for each other. But turns out it’s just the bond between our covens”, was the most cryptic explanation she could possibly give. At least that was what Josie’s face looked like.

“What are you talking about?”, Josie didn’t understand. She sat down next to Penelope again, seeing that the other girl was not so sure about it herself. So, Penelope told her what her mother had told her, and Josie’s heart was breaking into more and more pieces with every word of it. The way Penelope’s mother made her question her feelings for Josie, the way she got under her skin obviously and how easily she made the thing between them, whatever it was, sound so... unspecial.

But she was still with Raf, she still hadn’t had the courage to break up with him. Even though, she was sure about her feelings for Penelope, she still felt scared. Scared to get hurt, scared to end up alone. Well, not alone, but without Penelope, which was even worse. Seeing how easy it was to manipulate the raven-haired girl into thinking that her feelings weren’t real or true only strengthened Josie’s doubts about them.

But Penelope was what she wanted, who she wanted and the more she thought about it she didn’t understand how she was able to tell herself otherwise for years. A slight pain was developing in her temples, her fear of getting hurt and the deep connection she felt for the girl sitting next to her were fighting relentlessly and she suddenly felt like there was not enough space for both of those feelings existing at the same time. The inner restlessness was so threatening close to rip her apart, the way she couldn’t wrap her head around all the things she was feeling, the love she had for Penelope, the resignation that was radiating from Penelope. All of it made her heart feel heavy and sad and the words left her mouth, before she could think about them properly, “please don’t give up on me.”

There was a plea to them, something soft and fragile and the thing Penelope’s gaze was carrying after hearing Josie’s whisper, her silence, made Josie feel like the raven-haired girl did understand. That Josie was hers, but that she also wasn’t ready, yet.

Realizing that something was different between them, Lizzie was eying her sister and Penelope with furrowed brows. It was something unspoken, something hanging in the air between them. They were sitting opposite each other and while Penelope was casually chatting with Hope and Yves about something probably unimportant Josie was stealing glances at every movement the other girl did. But they weren’t the same jealous glances she would usually throw at Penelope whenever she would give her whole attention to Hope, no, this time they were attentive, and curious. Josie seemed to be much calmer, like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, like somehow the energy between Penelope and her had changed. As if there was an unspoken agreement between them, that there was no reason to be jealous anymore, that Penelope was still waiting until Josie would be finally ready again.

The pancakes on her plate were untouched when Josie noticed her sister eyeballing her. She questioningly shrugged her shoulders, but the split of a second in which Lizzie’s eyes landed on Penelope was enough for Josie to understand what was going on. A shy smile and a light blush were all she replied.

The plans for the day were easily made. Everyone was free to do whatever they wanted until the sabbath began and to Josie’s disappointment Penelope had decided to spend her day helping Hope to find a dress.

“Why are you angry?”, Lizzie watched her sister pacing up and down the room. Her hands on her hips, she twisted around, “I am not.” Knowing that her denial was pointless by the grin on her sister’s face, she released a groan, and hid her face behind her hands.

“Did you talk to Raf?”

Another groan. When ‘talk to him’ meant ‘break up with him’, then yes. She had talked to him earlier this morning right after she had left a sleeping Penelope. She still wasn’t ready to hurt him, and the memory of his sad voice and how he had tried to make it sound like he wasn’t about to cry made her heart ache. But Penelope was all she wanted.

“Yes”, she whined, and Lizzie felt her discomfort.

“Guess he didn’t take it well then…”, Lizzie really had the audacity to chuckle.

The brunette twin narrowed her eyes, glancing at her sister, “he said it was only a matter of time before I’d break his heart, and that he knew it would happen as soon as Penelope came back to Salvatore.”

Lizzie wasn’t surprised. That Josie was still in love with Penelope was something so undeniable, like the fact that apples grow on trees. And everybody was just waiting for her to finally see it herself. And when Penelope walked back through the doors of Salvatore, and the moment she suddenly appeared in her dad’s office was the moment when Lizzie understood that Penelope felt the same for her sister. And it seemed, that somehow the universe had tied them together and made sure that they would always find their way back to each other.

“We all knew that”, she shrugged. Josie smiled in defeat, denying her feelings for Penelope wasn’t believable anymore, especially not after last night. Telling Penelope that she shouldn’t give up on her was a promise at the same time. A promise that in the end Penelope and Josie would be together again, that there was something bigger waiting for them, that their happy ending would happen. But not yet, not right in this moment, Josie thought. There was still something holding her back.

“I don’t know why I can’t tell her”, a confession whispered into the cold air within her room. Her eyes met Lizzie’s, and Lizzie felt whatever it was Josie was feeling. A mixture of pain, fear, but also a zillion butterflies in her stomach and the same excitement a child felt the night before Christmas. And another thought crossed Lizzie’s mind. Never had she thought about talking her sister into a relationship with Penelope Park, Satan, she who shall not be named, but there she was, seeing two dimwits being too oblivious to say and do the obvious. So, it was her duty to at least bring Josie back into the right track. Wondering about how her opinion of their relationship had suddenly changed over the past few weeks she shook her head, chuckling under her breath.

“Well”, she said, moving closer to Josie. When she reached her, she laid her hands on the other one’s shoulders, “sometimes you got to just rip off the band-aid and tell a girl what you feel. What do you have to lose?”

Before Josie had time to reply, Caroline walked into the room. With a big smile on her face she said, “how about we get you girls something to wear for tonight?”

And with that the moment between the two sisters was gone.

Shopping was never one of Josie’s preferred activities. It was boring and exhausting at the same time but Lizzie… Lizzie was able to spend hours at the same shop, touching and eying every piece of fabric. Something Lizzie and their mother had in common, and as if on cue Caroline showed her what felt like the fiftieth dress. Josie simply let her head fall back in her neck, “mom”, she groaned, “not another dress.”

“Just try it on”, Caroline smiled, and Josie was wondering how much energy this woman had. _Vampires_, she thought, rolling her eyes.

“Come on, do it for me”, Caroline then whined.

Josie took the dress out of her mother’s hand, a little harsher as she had to, “that’s what you’ve said the last forty times.”

Lizzie walked out of one of the dressing rooms, turning and checking herself out in front of one of the mirrors. Her hands were gliding gently over the fabric embracing her body, “I really don’t get why she doesn’t like shopping.”

Caroline chuckled and the following smile was genuine. This was the first time in month she didn’t think about the merge and how to find a loophole out of it. Lizzie and Josie had grown up so much over the past years. Years Caroline had spend overseas, not seeing them, let alone talking to them on a regular basis. This moment made her feel like being a normal mother spending time with her normal daughters, following up a normal leisure activity.

“Oh wow, Josie”, she gasped when the brunette stepped out the dressing room, “you look beautiful.”

A shy smile, a light pink tone taking over her cheeks. Moments like these reminded Caroline of the girl Josie once was. Before Caroline had left, before Alaric had stopped having time for her, and before Penelope had thrown the burden of knowing about the merge on her shoulders.

Lizzie turned around, looking at her sister in awe, “yellow really is your color”, she approvingly smiled.

A quiet “thank you” left Josie’s lips while she was still looking at herself in the mirror. It really was.

She sat down next to her mother. Waiting for Lizzie was the worst, literally. Caroline’s gaze on her felt like piercing needles on her skin, she nervously moved back and forth in her chair, waiting for the blonde to say something.

“How are you?”, she asked and at first Josie looked at her a little perplexed. This wasn’t a question she did expect. Pressing her lips together in a thin smile, she thought about it for a second. How was she feeling? Good, sad, angry, tired, confused. A little bit of everything. A long breath escaped her lips, “I broke up with Raf.”

“Oh”, the blonde mumbled.

“You don’t seem to be surprised”, Josie noticed. She lowered her head, her gaze fixed on her fingers in her lap, playing with each other, “no one really does.”

Caroline held her head to one side. Josie didn’t seem to be surprised herself, not about the breakup, sure she felt guilty about it, but she didn’t regret breaking up with Raf, and certainly not about everyone else not being surprised.

“It feels like everybody else knows me better than I do myself”, a sigh.

Her gaze met Caroline’s warm smile, “sometimes others see things we can’t see ourselves. Things we do unintentionally.” Josie knew exactly what her mother was talking about. She had noticed the looks between Lizzie and Hope, she remembered how Lizzie always felt a certain way when Hope was around, and she thought about her probably doing the same with Penelope. How her feelings for the other girl were on display for everyone else constantly, while she tried to ignore them, to even push them aside.

“I’m just confused”, she tried to avoid her mother’s gaze, “sometimes I’m so sure about my feelings for her. In those moments I can see it so clearly. Her, me, even a future together. And then something happens and I’m not so sure at all anymore. I mean, I still lo-“, she cleared her throat, like something painfully got stuck in it, “I still feel the same way about her then, but I’m also scared. And I don’t know what to do, how to process all of it. I don’t know what she told you about us, but she’s not perfect, mom. And sometimes my head wraps only around the bad things.”

Caroline’s worried expression turned into a light chuckle, “oh believe me, I know that for sure. She never told me anything about you two, and even if she did”, a million memories of “I love her”s shot into her mind, “it’s not my place to tell you about it. I just want you to be happy, Josie. With or without Penelope, I don’t mind either way. But no one can make that decision for you.”

A moment passed, “I know”, another moment passed, “and sometimes it feels like I’m ready. Ready to fall for her again, ready to get hurt again, and I don’t mind the possibility that it actually could happen.”

“As much as I want to, I can’t promise you that it won’t happen. But I know Penelope, and maybe that makes me a little bit biased, but I don’t believe that she’ll ever hurt you again, not on purpose”, Caroline’s words were honest.

A few weeks ago, Josie would have been confused that not only her sister was now rooting for Penelope, but that she would ever have a conversation like this with her mother. Not because Caroline wasn’t a good listener, but the years of absence still have had an effect on their relationship in general. Caroline had missed so many steps in their growing up and even though they sometimes had talked on the phone it was not the same as a face to face conversation.

“You really do love her”, Josie stated without any jealousy or malice in her words. Her mother returned a shrug of her shoulders joined by an innocent looking smile, “I do. She’s… one of my best friends, as weird as it may sound.”

Despite the fact, that her mother still looked like a seventeen year old girl, it sounded weird at first, but considering the time they’ve spent together over the last few years and the way they were interacting with each other it wasn’t that weird the longer Josie thought about it.

“Gross, mom”, Lizzie joined their conversation. She was wearing a white jumpsuit, a deep V-neck showing the flawless skin of her décolleté. Caroline rose from her chair, slowly walking toward her daughter, “it’s still true, though”, she defended herself. Lizzie turned around, checking herself out in the mirror once again, “do you really want your daughter to date your best friend? That sounds weird, even for us.”

A chuckle left Josie’s mouth, shortly followed by a short laugh from Caroline, who slightly shook her head.

“You look stunning, Lizzie, Hope will love it”, Lizzie blushed, but only for a second because she was no one to blush, and before she could reply something smug Josie continued, “but can we please go now?”

From her window she could see hundreds of guests arrive. Powerful witches from all over the world, belonging to the world’s oldest covens, coming together for one night to praise something which Josie wasn’t a part of – the ‘pure blood’, ‘witches-only-blood’. Not only was Josie excluded from that concept because her dad wasn’t a witch, but she was a siphoner, and Ophelia Park had made it crystal clear how those witches were thinking about ‘people like her’.

She turned away from her window, and her eyes met the door.

_A knock on her doorframe, “hey Jojo, need an escort?” It’s her birthday and Penelope looks really good and her voice is so soft. Her expression is full of something Josie can’t quite grab. _Now she knows what it was - hope._ Josie really wants to take her offer, because besides Penelope there is no one she’d rather like to go to the party with. But she’s still angry and hurt, so she starts arguing with the girl in front of her, even though Penelope is right about everything. _

The memories flood into her brain and she thinks about what would have been different if she had decided to go with Penelope._ If_ anything would be different today, because maybe one reason wouldn’t have been enough for her to stay, anyway. She watched the door a little longer, a silent plea emitting from her body into the air, a plea for Penelope to knock at her door, to ask if Josie needs an escort today, because ‘no’ wasn’t an option anymore. Not after the past few weeks. But Penelope didn’t knock at her door, she didn’t ask to be her escort, instead it’s Lizzie who appeared in her doorframe, “are you ready?”, she asked, not really looking at Josie, but at the mirror behind her.

Disappointment was what she felt instead, but Lizzie was too busy to notice the change in her expression. Josie exhaled, “sure” and her hope that Penelope would suddenly appear was completely gone.

It was noisy in the house, there were at least 300 people in the ball room already. Josie let her gaze roam around the room, seeing Hope and Yves in one corner of it. She grabbed Lizzie’s wrist, pulling her toward their friends. Penelope and Helena were nowhere to be seen, as well as Ophelia Park, they would probably have their big entrance when all guests had arrived.

“Lizzie”, she heard Hope’s voice, “you look… beautiful.” Her sister smiled and a light pink color highlighted her otherwise paler cheeks. Their short exchange was interrupted by an annoyed looking Helena, who suddenly stood next to Josie.

“Where is P?”, Hope curiously asked when she finally disconnected her eyes from Lizzie.

“I was about to ask you the same thing”, she let out an annoyed groan, before her eyes met Hope’s, “she should have been here by now.”

The sabbath had been going on for nearly an hour already, and Penelope still wasn’t there yet. Nor was her mother. Josie was busy observing the dancing witches, while Hope and Lizzie had taken their chance only a few minutes after the music had started to play. They were dancing with each other, not noticing anything around them. Seeing them becoming close again made Josie smile, it had been too long already.

But her eyes were searching the room for Penelope for the thousandth time already again. There was Yves, talking to probably her parents, Helena chatting with some of her friends, and there was Nigel refilling the dishes of the large buffet table. Still no Penelope. Still no Ophelia. And where was Caroline? A deep sigh left her lungs.

It didn’t take long for Josie to realize that this sabbath was not only a celebration of the oldest covens and a possibility to reconnect with ancestors of the attending witches. What looked like an organized ball-like party was actually just a bunch of witches, desperately vying for attention of one another.

Josie let her eyes roam around the room once again, but this time she wasn’t looking for something in particular, rather than observing the situation. These witches were not simply seeking for attention of one another, this was their way to bond their covens to the others. This was a dating service for the most influential covens to make sure their members would only mingle and bond with other ‘pure witches’.

“Oh”, Josie’s jaw suddenly dropped when her eyes came to a stop.

Finally, Penelope hesitantly walked into the room. She was wearing a white dress with a low cut back, which made her look taller than she actually was. Her slow pace made her look like a Greek goddess gliding over the floor. Ophelia Park was closely following her daughter, a wide smile on her lips, greeting people to her left and right, while Penelope’s gaze was looking for something else, someone else. When her eyes met Josie’s, she smiled and for a minuet the world seemed to stop spinning. Josie felt the heat in her cheeks, she couldn’t stop starring at the raven-haired girl. She didn’t realize that she was also walking toward her, until she felt Helena’s hand around her wrist.

“Josie”, she whispered, stopping her from walking any further.

Penelope was so close, and Josie could instantly feel the tingles on her skin. She was unable to move, unable to look somewhere else. She nodded, letting Helena know that she was listening, and so the other girl loosened the grip around her wrist. “Penelope has to give the first slow dance tonight.” For a second Josie’s heart was beating faster, a hopeful expression on her face. Maybe Penelope was allowed to choose her partner, and just maybe it would be her.

“Wow”, Lizzie’s voice brought her back from her train of thoughts. Josie followed her sister’s gaze to the large winged doors. A witch, probably their age, walked into the room, her eyes were immediately scanning the crowd for something. _She’s beautiful_, Josie thought. Breathtaking, actually. Tall, full lips, beautiful long brown locks framing a face with a nearly perfect bone structure. Unfortunately, her eyes settled on Penelope, and she started walking toward her.

Helena noticed Josie’s frown, while a weird looking smile formed on her own lips, as if something was hurting her, “let the sabbath begin”, she mumbled.

“Who is that?”, Josie whispered, an angry tone in her voice.

“Maeve”, Helena stated, before her attention went back to the glass of champagne in her hand.

An all too well-known feeling of jealousy suddenly came out of nowhere, spreading from her stomach through her veins and into even the smallest part of her body.

But there was no time to protest against it, or to accept it for that matter, before Ophelia Parks voice echoed through the large room, “welcome to this year’s witch’s sabbath. This year’s opening dance is given by my daughter Penelope and the lovely Maeve Riley.”

With that the lights were dimmed, and a slow song started to play. As if that wasn’t enough a headlight was following Penelope and this Maeve girl, while they started slow dancing with each other. Josie watched them from the corner of the room with narrowed eyes. Helena was still standing next to her, emptying another glass of champagne. Shortly after their dance had started the first couples started joining them, amongst them Lizzie and Hope.

“Come on, let’s dance”, Helena smiled, already holding Josie’s hand within her own, gently pulling her toward the dancing crowd. Helena’s hands were gentle, and she was a natural leader, like her younger sister, confidently holding Josie and guiding her through the other dancing pairs. Her mouth was close to the brunette’s ear, “jealousy doesn’t look good on you, Josie.” For a second Josie froze, and the grip of Helena’s hand on her back tightened, leading her back into the right steps of the dance.

Goosebumps spread across her neck, when Helena started talking again, “can I be honest with you?”

“Of course.”

This was her chance to cheer up Josie, to make her see, what was so obvious to everybody else, but her, “you know, I always wondered why Penelope and Hope never became more than friends”, she felt Josie’s body tightening again.

“Well, who didn’t?”, Josie snapped.

“Sorry?”

The brunette’s sigh was muffled by Helena’s shoulder, “oh nothing, just go on.”

Helena slightly shook her head, Josie was apparently really oblivious when it came to her own effect on Penelope. She was underestimating herself, and Helena began to understand what Penelope was talking about, when she had explained her reasons for the breakup. _She always puts herself second. _

“I get it now. It’s not because of Hope and the lack of Penelope’s feelings for her, or their feelings for each other”, _you’re only making it worse_, “it’s because”, she paused, pushing Josie a few inches away from her so she could look into her eyes, “it’s because Hope is not you.”

Why was everybody always telling her how much Penelope loved her, how Penelope was stuck on Josie and how true and deep her feelings were for Josie? Another sigh. When all of it was true, why did she leave her all those years ago? She knew the answer, she knew it all along, thought about it for hours, days, weeks, month. A thought stuck in her brain since the day Penelope had left, because of her. It was Josie’s fault. It was Josie’s fault that Penelope wasn’t able to love someone else, it was Josie’s fault that Penelope had left. The answer to everything had always been her.

“Just tell her how you feel, Josie”, were Helena’s last words before they finished the dance.

She gulped down her glass if champagne in one go. Penelope and Maeve finished their dance a few moments before Helena and she did, but they were still standing in the middle of the room talking to each other. Maeve constantly touched Penelope’s arm, their hands brushed against each other, and when she was finally about to leave the raven-haired girl alone, she kissed her on the cheek, her lips closer to Penelope’s lips than actually necessary. Josie frowned, she was fuming inside. Finally, Penelope was coming a few steps closer, before the next person appeared in front of her, blocking her view of Josie again. And again, and again.

To Josie’s dissatisfaction, Penelope was polite enough to talk to every single one of her admirers. A shoulder touch here, a kiss on the cheek there, and Josie knew that Penelope was a natural at giving other people the impression to be something special. But even though she was kind enough to make it seem like it, she didn’t pay any attention at all. Her eyes repeatedly wandered off, meeting Josie’s instead, a lingering look within them. With every time piercing green met her brown orbs Josie felt the butterflies in her stomach again.

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”, Maeve suddenly appeared next to Josie.

“Yes…”, she hesitantly answered.

“Her whole family is. It’s… kind of unfair. Strong, beautiful, intelligent… all of them.”

Josie didn’t look at her, she didn’t dare to do so. She had seen how beautiful Maeve was and she knew herself well enough. Looking at Maeve would mean to acknowledge her beauty and to feel bad for herself at the same time, because why would Penelope chose her, when there was someone like Maeve? Maybe they even had a history together, and Maeve wanted to rekindle whatever they have had. 

“You must be the ex”, Maeve cut through the silence evolving between them. Josie nodded, absolutely no interest in continuing this conversation.

“We were supposed to bond, but she refused”, she felt Maeve’s eyes examining her, “I don’t see why.”

Anger was radiating from her stomach, she turned around only to see that Maeve was already walking to the other end of the room, meeting a group of young witches. She groaned, where was Helena? _Champagne table, what else._

“Helena!”, she waved at the other girl, who gave her a smile in return, finishing her glass, “what is this bonding stuff all about?”

“Oh, it’s basically like marriage.”

“So, this Maeve girl was supposed to marry Penelope?”

“Yes, it’s actually really common to seal a new connection between to covens or two families of the same coven. But Penelope refused to marry Maeve”, Helena laid her hands on Josie’s shoulders, “and please, don’t make me say why. You really can’t be that blind.”

And it wasn’t her being blind or oblivious, it was her doubting herself constantly, which made her question the reason for Penelope’s decision to reject Maeve.

The party was in full swing now and Josie needed to clear her head. She walked outside into the hallway, her ears still ringing from the loud music, the talking, and the laughing of all the other people.

“Ophelia, you know I really love your parties. But Geminis _and _the Tribrid? Are you forgetting about all our values? And then also Caroline Forbes, a vampire.”, a middle-aged woman asked in a high-pitched voice. When Ophelia Park turned around to face her, the woman’s expression changed from shocked to frightened. An effect Ophelia Park also had on Josie.

“It’s a family matter, and I didn’t know that I have to tell you about _my_ family matters, Mildred. And Caroline Forbes is a good friend of this family, not that I have to give you any kind of justification why they are here”, her voice was harsh. The woman turned up her nose at Ophelia, before she quickly walked back into the crowded ball room, making a huffing sound.

“Thanks”, Josie said when their eyes met. Mrs. Park simply lifted one eyebrow in a questioning manner, “for defending Hope and my family.”

“Oh, I wasn’t defending you. You are here because of my stubborn daughter, if it were up to me, you would already be sitting in a plane back to Salvatore”, Mrs. Park underlined her statement with a demeaning movement of her hand. She eyed the girl in front of her, her gaze falling to her wrist. Her mother’s bracelet.

“Nice bracelet you are wearing there,” her voice was spiteful and dry.

Josie looked down at her wrist, “Penelope gave it to me.”

“Sure, she did.”

The younger witch bit her cheek. This woman really hated her.

“Why did you lie to her?”, she heard herself asking, without knowing why she was still trying to have a civil conversation with the other woman.

“I beg your pardon?”, her false smile almost slipped. 

“About her feelings for me.”

A moment of silence settled between them, giving both women time to overthink their next words.

“Of course, she told you”, Ophelia began, “what makes you think that I lied?”

The look on Mrs. Park’s face was terrifying, there was absolutely no way to see through her evil smile, her narrowed eyes. Josie saw so much of Penelope in her, but Penelope would never look at her like Ophelia did.

“Because you don’t want your daughter to be with me”, her anger made her brave.

Ophelia’s eyes turned darker, her smile grew wider, “are you afraid she will leave you again?”

Josie’s cheeks turned red. Yes, the possibility to lose Penelope a second time, and thus probably forever, was terrifying. A big lump was forming in her throat, her palms started sweating. She lowered her gaze down to her feet. Ophelia mimicked her, but her eyes were settling on the bracelet again. Josie caught her starring, and her fingers carefully opened the clasp, “here, do you want to have it back?”

“No, darling. Keep it, Penelope has to make her own mistakes and hopefully she’ll learn from them.”

“I’m not a mistake”, it was only a whisper, almost inaudible due to the noises coming from the ball room and the distance between them. Her bottom lip started trembling, but Ophelia Park was merciless. With cold eyes she watched Josie, releasing a deep breath through her nose like a dragon that gets rid of the smoke in its lungs, “you’re a Gemini, what else can you possibly be? An ironic mistake nature made”, she scoffed, “but look, she is already moving on.” 

Josie did as she was told, turning around, following Ophelia’s order to look at Penelope, who was standing next to the drinks table. She was in a deep conversation with Maeve, who stood unnecessarily close to her, constantly touching Penelope. Again.

Josie was fuming, this whole sabbath had become pathetical in rapid speed. She was raging inside. She felt like the only reason Ophelia Park had agreed to let them attend was to humiliate Josie. To make her feel bad and pathetical herself, because she was starting to think that she really had a chance to get back with Penelope again.

Mrs. Park walked past her with fast steps, not giving her another glance.

Swallowing the lump in her throat was the first thing she did, before she gained back her composure, and walked into the room. Lizzie tried to get a hold of her wrist, but Josie shook off her hand.

“Jo, you need to try the food, it’s delicious”, Lizzie yelled, trying to keep up with her sister’s pace.

“Not now”, was all she replied. She walked a little faster, she was almost running now. And finally, finally she reached Penelope. Standing only inches away from her. Only now the tingling sensation on her skin was gone, the butterflies in her stomach were replaced by anger and fear.

“Are you okay, Josie?”, the raven-haired witch looked at her with a worried look on her face. ‘No’ was what she wanted to say but instead she took the girl’s hand, dragging her through the room like a little child.

“We need to talk. Now.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, love you guys!


	22. #22 - Kai Parker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola y'all!
> 
> This chapter is as messy as the one before but it's bringing the story forward a little bit. :-)
> 
> I hope you guys like it!

**#22**

Josie pushed open the door without knowing which room was behind it. Ophelia Park’s office, of course of all rooms within this house it had to be this one. The clicking sound of the closing door made her turn around. Penelope was standing a few feet away, she was biting her cheek, questioningly looking at the brunette.

“What are we doing here?”

Josie exhaled. What _were_ they actually doing? Their eyes locked and it suddenly felt like a knot was forming in her stomach, “what’s going on between you and that girl?”

_Really, Josie?_

Mentally facepalming herself, she cringed by how jealous her question had sounded.

Penelope smirked, “Maeve?”

Shaking her head, she took a step closer towards Josie, “nothing.”

“Yeah, sure”, too much jealousy. Again. And why was Penelope standing so close to her?

The amusement on her face was replaced by some kind of seriousness. She intensely eyed Josie, “are you jealous?”

“I –“, she took a step back, Penelope was too close for her to keep a clear head, “I’m not.”

Blushing cheeks, her breaking the eye contact, fidgeting hands, the pouty face, they all gave away what she was really thinking. And Penelope knew that she was alluding to the conversation they’ve had the night before, which equally left both girls in confusion about whatever the thing between them was.

“Josie”, she calmly sighed. She didn’t even know what to say, how to start a conversation they at this point have had over a million times. She felt as if they were running in circles around the same topic again and again, never getting any closer to each other.

“I’m not jealous”, is what she said. ‘_Yes’_ was what she really meant.

The raven-haired girl pushed her hand through her hair, “you don’t want me to give up on you, and I really don’t want to, Josie, I never wanted, but you are pushing me away constantly, and I don’t know how much of it I can take anymore.” 

This wasn’t just about their current situation, Josie understood that much. This was also about their situation four years ago, when Penelope had decided to leave. Back then she had chosen similar words to express what she was thinking. Josie remembered them like it was yesterday. _My heart can’t take it._ A sentence that was haunting her for years now. And her thoughts always came back to the same conclusion, whenever she was repeating that particular conversation in her head. Their last conversation before Penelope had left. She should’ve had read the letter the day Penelope had given it to her. Even though she didn’t know if it had made any difference, or if she would have been able to make her stay, old feelings of guilt and anger were settling in her stomach.

She didn’t intend to, but she frantically blurted her next words a little louder than necessary, “You left me!”

“Yes…”

The calmly spoken answer made Josie furiously clenching her hands into fists. The other girl was not even trying to defend herself or make up any excuses, simply standing there in front of Josie, agreeing with her every word.

“You left me without even giving me a chance to properly process what was happening.”

Josie was still speaking louder than she had to, her eyes angrily glancing at the witch.

“I gave you all the chances you needed, Josie”, her voice was still surprisingly calm.

“But you didn’t give me a choice other than to watch you leave,” Josie didn’t know much further she could go before Penelope would snap, but she had to push harder, as long as Penelope would go with it, finally talking through the main issue still hanging between them like a thick dusty curtain.

Penelope felt her blood beginning to boil. The audacity Josie had, to throw those accusations in front of her feet, as if she hadn’t given her enough opportunities to change everything. How often had Penelope imagined a different outcome of the story if only Josie would’ve had acted differently, if she only would’ve had made herself her number one priority instead of always putting Lizzie on that imaginary pedestal. 

“I gave you choices over and over again months before I left”, she pinched the bridge of her nose, and her next words were spoken like a deadpan whisper, “and you made your choice over and over again.”

“I didn’t”, her lip trembling.

“Yes, Josie. You did.”

The brunette turned her back on Penelope, she was so tired of all the fighting and yelling, but what else could she do? Penelope was right, and Josie knew it, “you don’t need to say it again.”

“What?”

“That I gave you a thousand reasons to go instead of one to stay. I know that already”, she turned around, locking eyes with the other girl, “it’s all I can think about!”

She didn’t know why she was still yelling at Penelope, but it felt good. Yelling those words, to emphasize their meaning felt like the right thing to do.

Again, the raven-haired girl pushed her hands through her thick hair, “you are so confusing, Josie! Just tell me what you want, please, because I don’t get it!”

“You!”, she yelled, “I want… you.”

Hearing those words coming out of her mouth felt weird at first, and when Penelope didn’t say anything for what felt like an eternity, she instantly regretted being so honest. She opened her mouth, ready to challenge Penelope to respond, to make the whole situation less embarrassing, but Penelope was already standing only inches away from her. Her hands felt warm on Josie’s cheeks as she suddenly pulled her in for a soft kiss.

Josie’s sigh of relieve hit against Penelope’s lips, and she quickly deepened the kiss, feeling Penelope’s hands gently moving down from her face to her waist, appreciating every inch between those two areas. Not realizing that the other girl slowly pushed her backwards until Josie’s back hit the desk, she disconnected their lips. Taking a few deep breaths in, while her chest was heaving heavily.

A moment of silence passed.

Josie swallowed as the air between them started thickening. Not in a bad way, but the growing tension was now pushing hard on them. It felt heavy, almost unbearable. Penelope’s hands wandered further down to Josie’s thighs, before she lifted her onto the desk. The following kiss was soft, but deep. Both girls were laying so much into this one kiss, as if their lives were depending on putting all the unspoken feeling into it.

Suddenly, Penelope broke the kiss, pressing her forehead against Josie’s.

“Don’t stop”, Josie then whispered, feeling like this wasn’t even close to being enough.

And Penelope obliged. Closing the gap between them, their lips crashed against each other. She softly bit Josie’s bottom lip, her tongue carefully caressing hers, while her hands were pushing the fabric of Josie’s dress a little higher up her thighs.

All her neurons were firing, the skin beneath Penelope’s fingers felt like it was burning. She pulled her closer, impossibly close, digging her fingers into Penelope’s bare back. The small kisses on her neck caused her head to fall back, giving the raven-haired girl more space to operate. But still, Penelope’s hands didn’t reach the spot where Josie wanted her. Needed her. Craved her.

“Penelope”, a soft moan hit her ear, “please.”

It was torture, having Penelope so close without her doing anything else but kissing Josie. And Penelope had always known her effect on Josie, but this time it was different. Her plea was almost sounding desperate, like there was nothing else left for her to live for but being right there where she was. With her, with Penelope.

Josie’s heart was beating fast, her soft moans were making the witch feel dizzy. This was so different from everything Penelope had known. This wasn’t one of the many passionate make out sessions and hookups they would’ve had in Penelope’s room or on the rooftop of Salvatore back in their school days. It was so much more, so much deeper. This was not about what they were about to do, what both of them wanted to do, this was about them laying their vulnerability in each other’s hands, trusting each other. This was them accepting that they were broken in their own ways and yet still so similar, and it was about a way to get through this. Together.

Penelope knew that she couldn’t waste anymore time, and so she simply pulled down the fabric, which was separating her skin from Josie’s.

Josie felt warm and her walls were instantly clenching around her fingers. A soft “fuck”, escaped her lips and it was hot, and cute, and infuriating at the same time. But saying something felt so wrong, so Penelope didn’t.

Plainly feeling Josie pulling her closer in, her nails painfully pushing halfmoon-like shapes into her back, while soft moans and deep breaths were filling the room. They didn’t kiss, Josie’s face was buried into Penelope’s neck and Penelope was pushing her teeth into Josie’s shoulder, while her fingers were thrusting slow but deep. Both of them painfully aware that this moment would be over soon.

After Josie had come undone, they remained within this very position, none of them dared to move. Josie’s body was still twitching when Penelope framed her face within her hands again. Pressing a soft kiss onto the brunette’s lips, not ready to let go just yet.

Even though it had been only minutes, both girls felt like they had been running a marathon. And eventually, Josie jumped off the desk, putting back on her slip, and adjusting her dress. Like nothing ever happened.

They were awkwardly staring at each other when Penelope cleared her throat, lowering her gaze to the floor.

Still, besides all the awkwardness, Josie felt so much closer to Penelope now, like they had just shared something very deep and personal with each other, and the expression on her face gave away, that Penelope was having similar thoughts. A soft smile was playing around her lips, when she again took a step closer, kissing Josie’s lips.

As they walked out of her mother’s office Lizzie almost crashed into them.

“There you are!”, she narrowed her eyes down to their intertwined fingers, a suspicious expression on her face. But no, they didn’t have time for any questions now, “come on, the others are already waiting outside”, and within the split of a second whatever was remaining from the moment between Josie and Penelope was also gone.

_They finally reach the others. _

_The ascendant feels heavy in her hand. Heavy and cold, while Aunt Bonnie’s blood somehow feels warm. How is that even possible? Lizzie slightly shakes her head, trying to shake off her thoughts and her doubts. This is what they need to do, what she wants to do, she wants to find answers, a way to be safe. A way to live. Not only for her, but for Josie. _

_It’s dark outside and the only light is provided by the stars and a little light, Hope spelled into a jar. The girls are standing in a circle and Lizzie isn’t the only one nervous. It’s as if the air smells of nervousness and fear. When the moon finally shows itself like it stopped hiding behind a curtain of clouds, the air gets thicker and thicker. _

_“Full moons always remind me of Raf”, Josie quietly whispers to Penelope, who strangely enough is still holding her hand. Lizzie tries not to stare when the raven-haired girl pulls away her hand from Josie’s. She grunts something Lizzie can’t hear, but Josie’s shocked expression lets her assume that it wasn’t something nice._

_“Not like that. Because he’s a werewolf and I feel bad for him”, she tries to defend her statement from before. But Penelope still doesn’t look convinced. _

_Lizzie lowers her gaze to the ascendant in her hand, she smiles, she can feel that Josie is happier than before even if they are back to bickering like an old couple already. But maybe that is what makes her happy in the first place._

_“Are you ready?” Penelope’s voice sounds like she is standing a million miles away. Why isn’t Josie answering? Lizzie looks up, all eyes are on her now. She is confused when she sees Penelope’s questioning look. Oh, she wasn’t asking Josie if she was ready, she was asking Lizzie. She quickly nods in response, but is she really ready though? She has to be._

_They start holding each other’s hands, while Lizzie is still holding the ascendant in hers. _

_“When do I have to add the blood?” _

_She knows the answer, they’ve talked it through a million times. But she needs to be sure, once again she needs the confirmation that what they are about to do is the right thing. Just one last time. Hope comes closer, her delicate fingers embrace hers, which cling to the piece of metal in her hand. A calming warmth immediately starts to radiate from the touch and Lizzie is finally able to release a deep breath, which she was holding the whole time. “You got this”, Hope encourages her. So, Josie adds a few drops of Aunt Bonnie’s blood to the ascendant, watches how the middle of it slowly turns red and then they start casting the spell._

_Everything turns dark, her vision is starting to get blurry, the world starts spinning in an unhealthy and impossible speed. _

_A beat. And then it’s all over. _

_The girls are standing in a circle, Hope is still holding her hand, and she can finally breath normal again. But her head feels like it’s about to burst into a thousand pieces. She needs to close her eyes. Something feels weird. Usually, she only feels Josie’s presence, their twin-bond, but now it feels like her senses are hypersensitive. Like there’re more people of… their kind. Geminis. _

_“Is that… music playing?”, Yves askes while slowly walking around, inspecting their surroundings. And indeed, Lizzie even recognizes the song, which she never really liked without any reasonable explanation really. At least not until now. _

_When Hope pulls her hand back, Lizzie’s immediately feels cold, missing the touch. Their eyes lock for the split of a second and she can see, what Hope would define as her way of smiling, “you okay?” And again, Lizzie just nods. She turns around, looking for her sister and when her eyes find her standing next to a worried looking Penelope, she knows that Josie can also feel that weird presence of the Gemini locked up in this world. She closes the gap between them, takes Josie’s hands in hers, “I feel him too.” Before Josie can answer, Penelope speaks up, “who?”, but Lizzie is too focused on her sister to answer, “Lizzie, who do you feel? Is it him? Kai?”_

_They start walking towards the music and it doesn’t take them long to realize that it’s the same song playing over and over again. “Your aunt Bonnie has a really strange sense of humor”, Penelope says, a smile playing on her lips. Josie’s glare in her direction doesn’t stay unnoticed by Lizzie, who just shrugs her shoulders, mumbling a quiet, “she’s right, though. The song is pretty annoying.” _

_After a few more minutes they reach the source of the music and Hope is the first one to shut off the karaoke machine. Lizzie throws a thankful look at her, when suddenly someone starts to clap their hands behind her. She turns around and immediately recognizes him. Kai Parker. Slowly walking towards her, a mischievous smile on his lips, still slowly clapping his hands. When he comes to a stop, he doesn’t say anything, just eyes one girl after the other. _

_The headache only gets worse, which is probably due to the proximity of Kai and the lack of background noises, which make Lizzie painfully aware of her own pulse drumming in her ears. Kai claps his hands once again, but louder than before, startling all of them, “so you finally made it.” _

_Lizzie narrows her eyes, a confused expression settling on her face, “you were waiting for us?”_

_A loud false laugh startles her again, when Kai turns around and starts moving to a chair, covered in old metal chains, “obviously”, his voice sounds amused, as he almost delicately strokes the back of the chair, “I mean, finally I get to know my nieces”, he abruptly turns back around, now facing them again “and that would be –“, he dramatically places his index finger on his chin and starts eying the girls again. Josie almost unnoticeably takes a step forward and in response Kai’s expression turns into a dark, dangerous-looking smile. _

_“We’re here to ask you about the merge”, Penelope also steps forward. She is staying next to Josie, her arms almost touching. Kai also realizes the proximity of the two girls, rising one brow, “she’s protective”, he remarks and Josie immediately blushes, while Penelope brings a little more space between them by stepping aside, quietly clearing her throat. In doing so she never lets him out of her sight. _

_He again smirks, and starts pacing from left to right, like a teacher walking from one side of the classroom to the other to make the students nervous during a test. _

_“Okay, which one of you is the crazy twin? There is always a crazy twin”, he says with far too much amusement in his voice, his eyes opened wide jumping back and forth between Josie and Lizzie. Without intending to do so, all girls are suddenly looking at the blonde, who lowers her gaze to her feet, uncomfortably shifting her weight from one foot onto the other. Even though, everyone instantly tries to look away, Kai noticed each one of their looks, “so it’s the blonde one.”_

_“Lizzie.”_

_“Excuse me?”, he cockily asks. Lizzie clears her throat, “my name is Lizzie.” He derogatively moves his hand, clicking his tongue, before he repeats her name with a hissing sound. _

_“You would have known them”, Josie suddenly finds her voice, starting to move closer to her sister. Kai shoots a confused look at her, before that annoying smirk again covers his face, “what exactly?”_

_“Josie, what are you doing?”, Lizzie whispers, when she feels the brunette grabbing her hand and responding to their uncle’s question “our names.”_

_A thought visibly hits Kai. He takes a breath in, his eyes move to the ceiling of the room for a second, “Josie. Interesting”, he giggles, “well, Josie, you’re right, I would have known, but –“, he raised his index finger into the air, “the problem with that is… I really didn’t care actually, and well, I still don’t to be honest.”_

_Before one of the girls can respond, Kai again starts pacing up and down, crossing his arms behind his back, “but anyways, coming back to why you’re here, you can’t stop it.” It takes the twins a second to remember, what they were talking about a few minutes earlier, when it’s again Penelope, who starts to speak, “but there has to be a loophole. Every curse has a loophole.”_

_He grins, eyes her from head to toe, leaves her words hanging in the thick air between them for a few seconds. Then he answers, “yes, that’s what they tell you, because you want to hear it. But even if there is, I never wanted to stop it, and so shouldn’t you.”_

_The next words he directly speaks to the twins, “don’t you want to feel it? The power, the strength that comes with winning the merge. To be the stronger twin. The better twin.” _

_His eyes turn dark, something dangerous trying to break out of them. His grin is causing an uncomfortable feeling rising in Lizzie, while Josie isn’t moving at all. Her eyes are actually turning a little darker as well, while she is thinking about what it would mean to be the one winning the merge. And it only takes him a second, before he realizes that Josie is biting the bait. _

_“Don’t you want to know who the stronger twin is?”, he says, his smile growing wider, darker, more dangerous. _

_Lizzie can feel how Josie is suddenly tightening the grip of her hand. The squeeze is becoming painful quickly, and a whimper leaves Lizzie’s mouth, when Josie turns her head, looking at her with dark eyes, whispering, “I think we already know who the stronger one is”, and the smile in her face looks exactly like Kai’s. _

_“Josie”, Penelope is suddenly standing between them. She gently touches Josie’s cheek, and something snaps in the brunette. Her eyes turn brown again and she looks at her. Really looks at her, “I’m sorry”, a desperate whisper. Kai just watches their simple exchange, “oh”, he smiles, and the girls are paying him all their attention again. _

_“This became boring pretty quick”, he shrugs his shoulders and Penelope steps forward. She is angry, her body tightens and Kai chuckles, “do you really think you can fight me?”, he comes closer. _

_He is dangerously close to Penelope now. His expression looks threatening and again something in Josie snaps, she can already feel the heat building up in her palms, the spell on her lips. Kai’s eyes turn red, the veins beneath them become visible, sharp teeth are exposed by his wide smile. But then Penelope suddenly does something with her hands, mumbling a spell under her breath._

_Kai tumbles, a weird grimace on his face, like he’s hurting. Josie feels it too. Her head feels like it’s about to explode, much worse than before. Lizzie is already on her knees, pressing her hands against her temples, and Josie needs to do the same, hoping to get some relieve of the pain. _

_Penelope looks so terrifying now, her expression is colder than Josie had ever seen it. Something dark lays in her eyes. It’s Hope who realizes what’s happening first, and she’s torn between running to Lizzie and stopping Penelope, but she quickly decides for the letter. Sprinting to the raven-haired girl, “Penelope! Stop!” _

_But Penelope doesn’t._

_“You are hurting them!”, Hope yells and finally Penelope lowers her arm. The pain immediately stops. But Josie’s vision is blurry, her head spins, and it gets darker with every passing second, like someone pulled out all of her energy, her life._

_Penelope’s face is pale, she looks horrified. Slowly walking towards Josie, simply whispering her name. _

_Somehow it feels like the world is spinning much slower now, her vision is blurred, and her surroundings are skewed. Somewhere in the distance she hears a yelling raven, and suddenly everything begins shaking. Being here feels wrong, as if they’re not supposed to be here, in this world. The edges of their field of vision begin to vanish. It turns darks and the air is pulled out of their lungs before they finally reach their world again. _

The pressure on her lungs was immediately gone. She looked around. There was the house, the moon, the garden. They were back. In their world. Hope sat down next to Lizzie, carefully running her fingers over her back, because Lizzie was still breathing heavily, her body shaking in exhaustion.

“I’m so sorry”, Penelope blurted out, and Josie believed her. She wanted to at least. To believe that Penelope didn’t just enjoy hurting three people at once with only one flip of her wrist.

Hope shook her head, “what is wrong with you?” She stood up, walking straight toward her best friend, pushing her a few steps back, “you could have killed them!”

Her face was full of pain and rising anger, she wanted to say something, but Hope beat her to it, “but you wouldn’t have cared, would you?”

“Wow, is that what you think of me? That I could kill someone just like that?”, the yelling made Josie’s headache even worse.

“Haven’t you done it before?”, Hope pushed her again, her anger visibly beating in every part of her body.

Penelope slapped away Hope’s index finger, that was pushing into her chest, “no, Hope! I could never- ”, she wasn’t done yet, but Hope interrupted her.

“Whatever”, she mumbled, turning around, and walking back to Lizzie. She helped the blonde twin standing up before she offered Josie a hand to do the same. Her grip was tight around both twin’s middles when they walked back to the house.

“Penelope!”

Caroline was running towards her, and she looked furious. The younger woman clenched her teeth, there was no way out of this now, she had to sit through Caroline’s rage.

“You are so…”, she huffed, coming to a stop in front of Penelope.

“What?”

“Stupid! You are so damn stupid, Penelope!”, her voice sharply cut through the thick air. Penelope’s bottom lip started trembling, she had seen Caroline angry before, but she had never felt any of Caroline’s anger focused on her, “Caroline, I –“, she tried to explain.

“No, I really expected better from you. After everything we’ve been through, after everything we’ve seen, you really should stop acting so reckless!”, Caroline turned around. Leaving no room for Penelope to explain herself, or to even reply something, before she stomped back to the house. Being on the edge of crying, Penelope quickly followed her.

As they reached the front door Penelope tried again to make Caroline understand what had happened, “Caroline, please!”

The blonde stared at her, “did you even think about what could’ve happened?”

Again, Penelope was interrupted before she could answer properly, but this time it was Lizzie’s voice, still sounding a little weak, “mom, it wasn’t even her idea. It was mine.”

Due to their weak legs Hope and the twins had been much slower than usual, they had just reached the house when a fuming Caroline and a scared-looking Penelope were running towards them.

“I don’t care, Lizzie. Penelope should have known better”, she pinched the bridge of her nose, while she released a long breath, and shook her head, “you all should have. I’m done. This was a mistake.”

This was her chance to finally say something, when everybody stopped talking, just watching the vampire. But what did she mean with ‘mistake’?

“What do you mean?”

“You, helping me. Bringing the twins here. This is obviously not going to work.”

No one dared to say anything. All eyes were on Penelope, except Caroline’s. She was still pinching the bridge of her nose, still had her gaze lowered to the grass beneath her feet.

“Wha- aren’t you a little overreacting now?”

_She is brave,_ was Caroline’s first thought and under different circumstances she would have chuckled about Penelope’s smug remark, but this was about her daughters, about Penelope, and about them possibly dying.

“Penelope!”, she yelled, stepping closer to the girl, “this guy stabbed his sister. Not once, but twice! He tried to kill her without blinking, their whole lives. He wanted to kill Josie and Lizzie before they were even born! What did you think? That you could just walk in there, cast a few of your spells and he tells you about how to stop the merge? He never thought about stopping it! He wanted it to happen, even before it was supposed to! He killed his whole family because of it, and he’s not some random siphoner, he’s a heretic. And you know what that means, don’t you?”

A rhetorical question.

“He just has to touch you to siphon all that magic out of you and kill you! Don’t you fucking get that?”

Clenching her teeth, Penelope just stared back at her. It was more than Caroline just being angry. She never had heard her swear before, not like this.

Waiting for Penelope to understand what she was talking about, knowing that she did, Caroline realized that Penelope was still the stubborn, naïve girl from her front door all those years ago, and so she wasn’t even surprised by her answer.

“I wouldn’t have let him.”

“You’re unbelievable. Stop thinking nobody could ever kill you. I get it, we all do, you are strong and powerful, but not like that! Not when it comes to some of the most powerful enemies we could possibly have. Stop acting. Like. You. Can’t. Be. Killed.”, she emphasized each of her words with hitting her fist on an invisibly table in front of her.

“Care, please”, the words came out as a shaking breath. This felt like her last chance to convince her that this wasn’t a mistake. But her head felt empty, there were no thoughts, no words to come. A beat passed and Caroline waited for her to just say something, to explain herself, to convince her to stay, but Penelope stayed quiet. And so, she turned around, one last time shaking her head, “no, Penelope.”

A quiet “fuck” left her mouth, she felt all the air leaving her lungs. Her chest felt so heavy, and her eyes were filling with tears when she bent forward, supportingly pushing her hands against her knees.

Hope’s heart was breaking by the sight of the girl, her heavy breathing, the incoming wave of panic that was emerging on her face. For a second, she thought about pulling Penelope into a tight hug, to rub the same calming circles on her back, like she did with Lizzie only moments ago, but instead she mimicked Caroline. She shook her head before she threw a last compassionate glance at the other girl.

Penelope rose her eyes, following Hope entering the house. Her eyes met Lizzie’s, and there was something behind the blue which only Penelope could understand. Lizzie was apologizing in her own way, without using words, maybe without even intending to do so. But this wasn’t enough, it couldn’t be. This was Lizzie’s fault as much as it was Penelope’s. It had been her plan from the beginning, without Lizzie she wouldn’t even had known about Kai Parker and his prison. A sharp pain was shooting through her jaw when she again clenched her teeth. Harder this time. But the pain was what brought her back to the real world. Yes, she had failed, screwed up big time, but she could still fix this. She had to.

She swallowed the lump in her throat, running to the front door of the house.

“Hope!”

The auburn-haired girl turned around. The house was still full of people, some of them with horrified expressions on their face, others not aware of what had happened in the forest behind the house. She fought her way through a group of witches.

“I screwed up, I know and I’m sorry”, she offered.

“You know, Penelope, screwing up was when you kissed MG to hurt Josie, or when you read all our diaries, or when you left Salvatore without saying goodbye. Almost killing Josie and Lizzie is much more serious than just screwing up, don’t you think?”

The way Penelope was standing in front of her made her seem so innocent. The teary eyes, her fidgeting fingers, the gentle lip bite. Hope sighed, “I know you’re doing all of this for Josie, but you really scared me today.”

“Hope Mikaelson being scared. That’s new.”

Hope looked at her with empty eyes, “seriously?”

“Okay, Hope, I’m sorry. I know”, she also sighed, taking Hope’s hand in hers, “I was scared, too.”

The auburn-haired girl opened her mouth but was shut down. Ophelia Park appeared next to her all the sudden with her typical unreadable expression, “Kai Parker of all people.”

She pulled her hands away, turning around to face her mother, “you don’t need to lecture me. Caroline and Hope already did.”

“I don’t care what you do to bring yourself in danger”, Ophelia Park merciless started her lecture, “as long as you are with Caroline, because I know that she can protect you. But bringing your friends and our guests in danger? A heretic? Seriously, Penelope. Siphoners are dangerous enough, but this is even worse.”

Penelope’s gaze wandered off her mother and behind her. Josie and Lizzie were standing a few feet away, still able to hear everything Ophelia Park had just said.

“Don’t pretend like you care about my friends all of the sudden”, she hissed.

“I don’t”, Ophelia honestly said, “but Kai’s blood is running through their veins.”

First her eyes locked with Josie’s, who was wearing a disappointed pout, and then she met Lizzie’s eyes. Her face was carrying something deeper. She was on the edge of throwing up, when realization hit her, that Mrs. Park was speaking the truth. She was not only dangerous for these people because she was able to suck up their magic with a simple touch, but because she was as crazy and unpredictable as her uncle.

When she focused on her mother again, she provokingly smiled, “so… you are scared of them.”

“That’s enough, Penelope”, Helena stepped up next to her mother, “not in front of all those people.”

Only then Penelope realized that a crowd had formed around them. Nosy witches, hoping for something more interesting to happen than the mingling within the ballroom.

Mrs. Park beckoned her into her office, and she followed.

A screaming silence was welcoming them as soon as they had stepped into the dark coldness of the room. Penelope looked at the desk, thinking about Josie and what had happened what must have been ages ago.

“Bringing Geminis to the Sabbath? Okay. Bringing Hope Mikaelson to the Sabbath? Okay”, her mother’s voice startled her, “you’ve never cared about our values. And that’s… okay”, she watched her daughter, “but opening one of their prison worlds in my backyard? Especially that of Kai Parker… what did you think?”

Penelope didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what she was thinking anymore. What she had thought. At the same time trying to figure out if her mother was worried about her or what the people outside the door were thinking about her.

Mrs. Park took Penelope’s silence as a request to continue, “you are risking your life for her.”

There was no question.

“I told you, I love her”, Penelope offered.

“You did.”

“Why can’t you see that?

The woman released a deep sigh, before she started rummaging in one of the desk’s drawers, “I do, believe me. And I really hope you’ll understand me one day, once you’ve found your loophole.”

She closed the drawer, holding a folded piece of paper in her hand which she held out for Penelope to take, “what’s that?”

“You’ll find your answers here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave comments! :-)


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